Stories that only have six words. Are they truly a ‘Narrative Genre’? David Fishelov, believes that they maybe. He’s a professor of comparative literature. At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. See his essay on the subject. ‘The Poetics of Six-Word Stories’ * (It’s published in Narrative, January 2019.) The professor considers stories from websites. Such […]
Tag: author
Authors: can boozing alleviate writer’s cramp? [study]
“Have you tried taking a stiff drink or two?” might not be a question that a professional writer would expect from their doctor. Unless, that is, they suffered from writer’s cramp, and their doctor had come across a 2012 case report in the journal Internal Medicine – Alcohol-Responsive Writer’s Cramp – in which Sung-Chul Lim, […]
Eats words and leaves
‘Graphophagia’ is a new word (or neologism if you prefer) coined by Janet Beizer who is Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. It’s derived from Greek, [literally ‘writing-eating’] and refers to a type of ‘Pica‘ – specifically a subset of ‘Xylophagia’ (i.e. eating wood or paper) but whereby practitioners not only eat […]
Parker surges with the authorship lead: 1,050,000 and rising
Professor Philip M. Parker [pictured here] has now authored more than 1,050,000 books, according to a report by Caitlan Carroll for the “Marketplace” radio program. This new total should erase most doubts as to whether he is the most prolific author ever. When we reported about Professor Parker in 2008, he was up to only about 85,000 […]
Proposed Economics of Irrational Hammer-Throwing
We received a kind invitation from someone named Molly Michell. I’m sure we’d all be fascinated to hear her economic take on hammer throwing. Here is Ms. Mitchell’s invitation: > From: Molly Mitchell > Date: Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 3:08 PM > Subject: Economics Guest Post > > Hi , > > I created […]
Seeking info about a Zombe
We would be grateful for any biographical info you might supply — specifically about E. Zombe, author of this work: “Dvadtsatipiatitysiachniki,” E. Zombe, Voprosy istorii, 1947, no. 5, p. 19. We have seen it cited in several places, including this reference: UPDATE (November 8): Investigator Filip Graliński says: “Here is the paper: http://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/7150118
Kansas v. pancake flatness update
Brandon Vogt [pictured here], co-author of the influential study “Kansas is Flatter Than a Pancake“, is now an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. NOTE: The state of Colorado, taken as a whole, is less flat than a pancake. BONUS: The man who was provoked by pancakes. […]