Friday's Literary Grab Bag

Hughes The Environmentalist

Charleston, SC, is a splendid little city — we lived there for five years — but as far as the seasons are concerned, it lacks drama. Since we’ve been here in Seattle we’ve experienced 100 degree heat, steady rain, and today, the winter’s first hard frost. Such meteorological diversity makes us grin. If Ted Hughes were alive he’d certainly approve. After all, he chronicled the ebb and flow of the seasons in many of his poems. Everyone knows the seasons influence the way we think, see and smell, which might explain our present desire to breathe deeply the musty aromas of an antiquated book. The LA Times eases our urge. Speaking of old books, Poe’s first published title — Tamerlane and Other Poems — is expected to fetch six figures when Christie’s brings it to auction. Elsewhere, earning money is something Murakami is used to. But one writer for the Guardian feels the author’s value is shrinking. Instead of writing novels, Murakami might consider writing pornographic screenplays. Slate explores this rousing industry. Or maybe such writing is better suited for Roger Avary, the jailed co-writer of Pulp Fiction. Quick, get Uma on the phone! In other news, it’s the end of the year, which begins the season of quantifying the merit of many, many books. Hop over to The Millions for a complete summary. Us, we’re looking forward to spring. — Kevin Murphy

– Ted Hughes, in the poem Swifts, described his relief at seeing those delightful birds returning to Britain every spring after the 6,000-mile migration from South Africa: “They’ve made it again/ Which means the globe’s still working . . .” Hughes’s poem is a celebration of nature, but also a warning about the fragility of our vast, delicate ecosystem. A campaign is under way to have Hughes roost among his peers in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. — Ted Hughes in the Times Online

– The nose knows when it comes to detecting the condition of old books. A new study finds that the familiar musty smell old books give off may be a better way to tell their condition than traditional ways that typically destroy part of the document. Researchers from the UK and Slovenia developed a new technique called “material degradomics,” which examines the gasses old books and paper documents produce as they degrade. — Musty Books in the LA Times

– I was in the kitchen, boiling a pot of spaghetti, and whistling along to Rossini when the question hit me: why do I no longer read Murakami? A quick scan of my bookshelves would suggest he’s pretty much my favourite author – there are at least 10 novels, more than Jeanette Winterson, Hanif Kureishi, John Updike or Margaret Atwood. But he isn’t. In fact, he’s a long way from it. Why not? — Murakami in the Guardian

By A Bitter Bostonian

– Antiquity experts are eagerly anticipating Friday’s auction of an original copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems — a much-sought after text whose sale could set a new record for American literature. Francis Wahlgren, head of books and manuscripts at Christie’s auction house in New York, dubbed the rare title “the black tulip of U.S. literature.” — Edgar Allan Poe in CBC News

– Whereas Hollywood screenplays sell for anywhere from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, pay for porn scripts for even big productions generally caps out at around $1,000. (Writers unions don’t accept porn writers unless they also work on mainstream film and TV projects.) And since adult films usually have low budgets—a few thousand dollars—writers can’t compose scenes that would be expensive to shoot, like fighting sequences atop a moving train. They try to limit the action to the rooms of a house—bedroom, bathroom, kitchen. — Porn Writing in Slate

– The end of another year (and decade) offers many amusements and diversions, chief among them the inevitable, retrospective lists. We made our own attempt in September, with our Best of the Millennium (So Far) series, which proved to be an instructive and contentious exercise. Among the chief arguments leveled against such “best of” lists is the way they posit an illusory pinnacle of achievement and quality. — Good Reading in The Millions

– Pulp Fiction co-screenwriter Roger Avary has been sent back to a secure jail after reportedly giving updates on his sentence on Twitter. Avary, who was jailed for a year for killing a friend while drunk driving, had been on a furlough programme, allowing him to work outside jail. — Roger Avary in the BBC

Video: Looking Back at Pulp Fiction