Relevant Literature in the Age of Coronavirus

I usually at least glance through my daily e-mail from Literary Hub and today noticed an item entitled "Italy's answer to the coronavirus is a classic published almost 200 years ago."  The book in question is "The Betrothed" by Alessandro Manzoni, a story that takes place when the plague has hit Italy.

The book ranks very high in the Italian literary canon and as the author of the LitHub article, Alessio Perrone, notes, has long been a subject for study in Italian schools.

Even if you don't intend to rush out and purchase a copy of the book, I recommend you read Perrone's excellent article about it and how the story relates to prevailing circumstances.  To read it, click on the phrase "excellent article" in the preceding sentence.

Writer's Block Depicted

Writer's block is an often-experienced state for many writers and even more for wannabes.

What does it look like?  Author Lucy Ives takes a stab at it in her new book "Loudermilk" as per this excerpt thanks to LitHub.

One experiences a sense of "why am I reading this?"  That's arguably what it's all about.

George Orwell: Frighteningly Prescient With More To Come

A May 2015 post entitled "Fiction of the Future" was the first in which I discussed the idea that one purpose of literature is to look ahead and try to imagine what might come of us, unconstrained by prevailing limits of scientific or other relevant knowledge. Therein, I cited George Orwell's 1940 novel "Nighteen Eighty-Four" as probably the most famous title within this genre.

Thanks to a service called "LitHub Daily," I just read a thoroughly researched, exceptionally chilling article by Stephen Rohde that shows how very prescient Orwell was.  Entitled "Big Brother Is Watching You: Is America at Risk of Becoming Orwell’s Nightmare?" and published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, this rather lengthy piece is highly recommended.

There is little more to say about the subject now, but I suspect I will return to the topic in the future.