Monthly Archives: February 2009

Sensitive Subjects

27 February 2009

Andy Baio of Waxy.org explores how Chinese Internet users access articles from The Economist.

Posted in Reading | Tagged andy baio, censorship, china, copyright, economist, internet, translation, uk

A Commanding View

26 February 2009

Reading is required for any John Updike pilgrimage. That’s not “reading,” as in books, but Reading, as in Pennsylvania. It seems you can’t go a block in this city of about 83,000 without running into one of the author’s old stomping grounds or a scene from one of his books, where often the city is named Alton or Brewer.

For the Washington Post, Ben Chapman takes the tour.

Posted in Writing | Tagged ben chapman, john updike, travel, usa, washington post

Chaste Little Harem

25 February 2009

In the Times Literary Supplement, John Bowen writes of Charles Dickens’s refuge for fallen women.

Urania women were obliged to tell their story to Dickens but, once they had done so, were forbidden ever to refer to it again, either to each other, the staff at the home, or in their future lives. The parallel with the ways that Dickens handled his own family’s shameful secrets is striking.

Posted in Reading | Tagged charles dickens, john bowen, tls, uk