The publication of Tzvetan Todorov‘s La Litt érature en p éril has sparked off a debate on the relevance of contemporary French fiction. Todorov argues that French novels, today, tend to be either solipsistic or nihilistic, when they’re not simply (sic.) disappearing up their ars rhetorica. He is usually pitted against the thirtysomething novelists associated with Inculte, a literary journal which has just published Devenirs du roman, an anthology of essays and interviews about the state of the novel. * Unfilmable novels. * Sad man in Hammersmith Palais. * Litro editor reviews the latest Tales of the Decongested event and interviews the organisers: “We came up with the idea after a night out at Wimbledon dogs” * An interview with Gülcher who are fronted by former 3:AM collaborator Laurence R émila. They talk about their extraordinary first album, After Nature, which is destined to become a French rock classic. * Our friends at Dogmatika devoted last week to Richard Brautigan. Check out (inter alia) Ben Myers‘ piece: “What happened next, I’ve never told anyone about. I gave the man in the shop three metal coins and I took TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA by RICHARD BRAUTIGAN home and I pan-fried him with a little farm-house butter and couple of twists of lemon. Salt and pepper”. * Californicator Kimberley Nichols is about to make her return in 3:AM. * The Hunter S Thompson exhibition in LA. * Poppy & The Jezebels interviewed. * The closure of Trash (more here). * On Steve Almond‘s Baby Daddy blog. * Neal Pollack, spokesman for the punk rock parenting movement. * Userlands: New Fiction From the Blogging Underground is reviewed in the Village Voice. * The International Herald Tribune talk to Akashic Book‘s Johnny Temple. * When Britain and France nearly got hitched. * The forthcoming film version of Fr éd éric Beigbeder‘s 99 francs. * Howard Devoto. * Savage Manners. * 90 seconds to sell your book (check it out). * An interview with Elizabeth Ellen. * A history of the Cash Pussies. * The boy’s own controversy. * Rod Liddle on the impotence of contemporary fiction. * Peter Wild on the Serpent’s Tail website. * Kenneth Tynan‘s new collection. * Anne Pigalle‘s striking polaroids. * Dante not that ugly shock horror! * Hanif Kureishi on Junichiro Tanizaki. * Iain Sinclair‘s Ginsberg film. * Sam Jordison delights in Alfred Chester‘s combination of “genius, madness, tragedy and red hairpieces”. * The diary of a suburban punk rocker. * Moleskinerie.
