Word: fictional
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...That tribute, like my opening paragraph, betrays a nostalgia for a kinder, gentler moviescape, back when stars spoke love in whispered metaphors and a leading lady knew how to get out of a limo without exposing her crotch. But that notion of refinement was a fiction too. It happened to be the prevailing tone of A-list movies of the 40s that lingered through the 50s. Kerr was not some elevated being who allowed herself to be photographed. She was an actress, convincingly playing these roles. And though her career was never marked by scandal, off-camera she could...
Stephen King, famous for his lengthy novels, proved to be of comparatively few words at a talk about short stories last night. Asked for his advice to aspiring short fiction writers, he replied, “Write a lot and read a lot.” King came to Memorial Church last night for a panel and book signing to promote “The Best American Short Stories 2007.” King, who served as a guest editor for the book, was joined by Heidi Pitlor, the editor of the series, and Jim Shepard, Karen Russell, and Richard...
...series of circles: the smallest circle is the one in which everyone is doing the same thing. As you move farther out, "fewer people are willing to go there, but you're charting new areas. Go too far, step out of bounds, and you're in science fiction. So you have to be careful. But you want to be as close to the edge as possible." When he first proposed manipulating mouse genes to help model disease, the nih gatekeepers thought he was over the line. "Not worthy of pursuit," they said of his grant proposals. Happily, Capecchi ignored them...
...instead ending in half-sentences and unuttered phrases, leaving the reader wondering if it ever existed at all. In Denis Johnson’s last and best-known book, 1993’s “Jesus’ Son,” he demonstrated his mastery of short fiction. In stories such as “Emergency,” in which a man comes into an ER with a hunting knife buried in his forehead, Johnson illustrated a genius for images that would haunt and nag well after the actual book was put down. He proved...
...school to males’ stronger engagement with other media, particularly video and computer games. It’s a fine line to walk between examining quantifiable differences and delving into either the causes or implications of those differences. A recent article in The Guardian claims that for men fiction reading is an adolescent rite of passage rarely revisited afterwards, but never attempts to explain why women continue reading fiction and men put it away. Of course there are men who still read fiction, just as some men turn to self-help books for solace. But most publishers have realized...