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LitStack Review: ‘Boy, Snow, Bird’ by Helen Oyeyemi

Boy, Snow, Bird Helen Oyeyemi Riverhead Books Release Date: March 6, 2014 ISBN 978-1-59463-139-9 They’re names. In case you’ve looked at the title of Helen Oyeyemi’s newest novel and wondered what the heck those three words might have in common, they are proper names of three of the main characters. […]

Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente

Six-Gun Snow White Catherynne M. Valente Subterranean Press First Edition: February 28, 2013 ISBN 978-1-59606-552-9 The Brothers Grimm never saw this one coming. Author Catherynne M. Valente has taken the age old fairy tale of Snow White, infused it with images and archetypes of the Old West and threaded it […]

Birthdays

On this day, June 11, in 1572, Ben Jonson was born in Westminster, London, England. A towering figure in English (and therefore Western) literature, especially during the Renaissance and Restoration, he is considered second only to William Shakespeare (whom he knew) in his importance to British drama. Indeed, known for his intellect and cultured satire found in both his plays and his poetry, he was more widely known and better received than Shakespeare, and enjoyed the patronage of King James VI and I. The man who has been called the first poet laureate continued to write up until his death in 1637; he was 65.

Birthdays

On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.