Friday's Literary Grab Bag

Ah, Friday. Nothing like waking up to the sweet glee that is the approaching weekend. But this weekend represents more than kicking your feet up and sipping brews. No, this weekend is also about reflection: on war, on poetry and on our own mortality. The Grab Bag tells us more. It’s been 20 years since Tiananmen Square. Wang Dan has a gripping account in Words Without Borders. The Guardian is supplying the masses with short stories concerning that fateful year. Check out today’s piece about a funeral gone awry. Do you know the Crosbys? No? Well now you do. Because there is an unmissable article in the Telegraph that explains their role in 20th century literature. Another man’s place in contemporary literature is discussed in Vulture, and debates which profile about David Foster Wallace’s demise hits closest to the heart. But let’s not end there. The weekend is only beginning. Let’s talk poetry. A Ted Hughes children’s poem is discovered and W.B. Yeats was a sucker for love. Or was he? – Kevin Murphy

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