The Literary Guide to the World
Monday, June 26, 2006
Salon is running an interesting series of articles this summer called The Literary Guide to the World. The idea is to collect the best books about a particular region of the world and present it as a kind of travelogue about that region.
Some of the selections are obvious, James Joyce's Dubliners for Ireland or Thomas Mann's Death in Venice for, um.... I can't remember. However, while some locales have rich literary histories, others do not – such as sub-Saharan Africa or central Asia – and the recommendations here present an invaluable starting place for expanding beyond college lit and the NY Times bestsellers lists.
The articles themselves are buried behind an ad firewall, requiring non subscribers to watch a commercial or click through several pages to access the full text. The quality of Salon's articles has not improved much over the past few years, making daily visits unnecessary. However with the Literary Guide to the World, Salon has struck upon a simple idea and executed it to perfection.
Some of the selections are obvious, James Joyce's Dubliners for Ireland or Thomas Mann's Death in Venice for, um.... I can't remember. However, while some locales have rich literary histories, others do not – such as sub-Saharan Africa or central Asia – and the recommendations here present an invaluable starting place for expanding beyond college lit and the NY Times bestsellers lists.
The articles themselves are buried behind an ad firewall, requiring non subscribers to watch a commercial or click through several pages to access the full text. The quality of Salon's articles has not improved much over the past few years, making daily visits unnecessary. However with the Literary Guide to the World, Salon has struck upon a simple idea and executed it to perfection.
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