Monday Links

A very good article from The International Literary Quarterly which is mostly about Dave Eggers, though it includes some brief commentary on Jonathan Franzen. I have never warmed to Eggers's writing, though I deeply admire his philanthropy and activism. This article tries to show a deep harmony between the two, a harmony which has become obvious (culminating in What is the What) but which was far from obvious (at least to me) back in the days of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I'm still not entirely convinced, but now feel like I should maybe re-read AHWOSG.

A whole raft of good stuff in the minnesota review. It's the spring/summer issue, so I'm really late, but that doesn't take away from the excellence of the contents. All three interviews are fantastic (tmr consistently has, I think, the best interviews of any academic or intellectual journal)—Hazel Carby, Michael Denning and Jonathan Culler.

Also in the minnesota review, Paul Grimstad's revaluation of Knapp/Michaels's Against Theory is worth its own bullet point. It certainly addresses the kinds of questions raised on The Valve a couple of days ago, and which I responded to here.