Profiled in 1996 by Ploughshares, Richard Ford said of his wife, “She’s a quite happy person by nature, and it might’ve been that she thought I’d find a wider audience if I stopped writing about dark souls and dark fates. In retrospect, I’d say she was right. I know it’s much more of a challenge—for me in particular—to find language for people essaying to be better and happier, than for people wrestling with murder and mayhem.”

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Irish Irony In Books About Books

Just because it’s Friday doesn’t mean the literary world is sleeping. Truth be told, more news tends to emerge toward the end of the week, when reclusive writers part their curtains and join the public fray. Today, despite the solemn anniversary of 9/11, is a checkerboard of literature happenings. The Irish are an ironic herd. Maybe that explains their affinity with books about books. What gives? Lorrie Moore is the darling of book critics but The Stranger says she’s written an ornate, useless novel. The eloquent crank John Banville is interviewed by a British bibliophile, B.R. Meyers finds hope and disappointment in the latest translation of Hwang Sok-yong’s fiction, and Harper’s recounts the harrowing and absurd conversation between radio DJs and contestants drinking lethal amounts of water. Finally, all the lit-kids love transhumanism, right? And Dickens’s England goes digital. It’s Friday, people. Join the fray. — Kevin Murphy

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