05 – Oct – 2010

1. On revolutions, hierarchies and social networks – Malcolm Gladwell espouses hierarchy to bring about revolution rather than the chaotic and generally disorganized networks – Culture – 4300 words – New Yorker
2. Retranslating Madame Bovary – Lydia Davis on her thoughts on retranslating and translation in general – Books – 800 words – Paris Review
3. Against MFA / Programme Literature – A long meditation on the shortfalls of MFA programs – Books – 8400 words – London Review of Books
4. More on MFA – A student of MFA discussed the debate over at the Rumpus. The bestsellers have no MFA degrees but New Yorker’s best 20 under 40 has many MFA – Books – 2300 words – The Rumpus
5. Even more on MFA – More power to Elif Batuman says this piece (The comments are the real gems) – Books – 2700 words – The Millions

15 – Sep – 2010

1. Role of twosome in creativity – Exploration of the role of pairs, threes and more in the field of creativity (And also a refresher against the single man myth obsession in history) – 3200 words – Culture – Slate
2. Inside John Lennon / Paul McCartney – Slate continues its excellent series on pairs in creativity. This time its the Beatles – 4800 words – Culture – Slate