Teaching Abroad, with James Joyce

Even with the world shrinking and today’s youth having more opportunity than ever to go abroad, and even contribute while doing so, it is hardly a new course. John Broderick muses on James Joyce’s teaching and wasting away in Italy.

James Frey Writes “Books”

Even after James Frey was publicly shamed (by Oprah no less), one thing was clear: another book was guaranteed. OV contributor Dominica Zellie caught the “novelist” Frey in NYC reading from his recent book “Bright Shiny Morning,” this time with the added controversy of comparing himself to Mailer and Hemingway.

Elizabeth Bishop, Con Spirito

From time to time we at the Vernacular make omissions in our endeavors. Fortunately, our co-writers and readers are quick to jump on our mistakes. Contributor Trinity Boscardin discusses Elizabeth Bishop, the poet from Massachusetts, and her unforgettable Pulitzer Prize winning work.

Robert Lowell, Massachusetts

In recognition of April being National Poetry Month, OV editor Michael Grandone shares his recent poetic discovery: Robert Lowell. As a son of Massachusetts, Lowell managed to speak with a voice that can affect any reader, but one still indicative of his home.

Junot Diaz Interviewed

Our favorite new author at the Vernacular, Junot Diaz, won the Pulitzer Prize last week for his great novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. And now “In These Times” has provided his fanbase with a slight interview with the man in question. Read it all here. (PGJ)

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On the Kindle, A Quick Take

More on the Kindle, Amazon’s E-Book reader. This from New York magazine: “Overall, it looks like the unloved remnant of one of those wild nights back in 1987, when an Etch-a-Sketch drank too much Bartles & Jaymes and ended up locked in a three-way with a graphing calculator and a credit card swiper . [...]

Harper’s, You Had Us Pegged

Or, Why We’re Not Even Original in Being Boring
That famed post-college malaise, the ongoing syndrome of America’s spoiled bourgeois-elite, feels unique to this generation. A downturn in jobs after dot com busts and a continually strained and stressed economy categorizes a larger post-Gen X apathy we twenty-somethings of America inherited from older siblings. [...]