the web The Book Club Blog

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Has Belle de Jour raised the bar too high?

More sex, less fun - Guardian - "Unfortunately, candour in the post-Belle De Jour literary world is no longer a straightforward virtue."

Posted by Nick @ 14:51 GMT

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Friday, May 20, 2005

Who or what is Blue Mantle Pursivant ?

For those who may have missed it, Simon Carr raises this question on page 7 of the Independent, 18 May. Could a member of the book club possibly shed light on this mystery ?

Posted by Laurence @ 10:37 GMT

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Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Boris Vian's, L’Écome des Jours, 1947 ('Froth on the Daydream'/'Mood Indigo'/'Foam of the Daze' - The Book Club's chosen book for the month ahead

Posted by Nick @ 07:40 GMT

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Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Andrea Dworkin RIP

Anti-porn crusader Dworkin dies, - BBC
Feminist writer Andrea Dworkin dies - Swissinfo
Andrea Dworkin, feminist iconoclast, dies at 59 - New Zealand Herald
Feminist Andrea Dworkin Dies at 58 - Associated Press

Andrea Dworkin (born 26 September 1946 in Camden, New Jersey; died 9 April 2005) was an American radical feminist and writer.

Dworkin produced numerous books, articles and speeches. She was known mostly for her work on pornography, prostitution, and male violence against women. More than many other critics of pornography, she linked it directly to rape and violence. She was notable in general for attempting to link sexual issues to the larger structures in society. According to her, sexual behavior itself is a cause of inequality between men and women.

However, she also wrote about the class perspective on feminism, in books such as Right-Wing Women.

Dworkin, together with the feminist lawyer Catharine MacKinnon, drafted a proposal for a law that defined pornography as a civil rights violation against women, and allowed women to sue the producers and distributors of pornography in a civil court for damages. In 1983 the law was passed in Indianapolis, but was subsequently overturned as unconstitutional by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 1985. The Supreme Court of the United States later upheld the lower court's ruling in American Booksellers Association, Inc. v. Hudnut.

In 1965, Dworkin was arrested during an anti-Vietnam War protest and sent to the Women's House of Detention. Her testimony of the experience was reported around the world. The prison is now closed.

Her works were highly controversial and she was heavily critizised from both sides of the political spectrum. Her ideas have been critised as a threat to family values by the right. At the other end of the spectrum, many continue to see her as a proponent of censorship and as exceedingly hostile towards free expression of sex.

Pornographic cartoons of Dworkin have appeared in Hustler, resulting in her suing the magazine.

At the end of her life, Dworkin lived in Washington, DC with her life partner John Stoltenberg, who was also a feminist activist.

Bibliography

Nonfiction

• Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant (2002)
• Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation (2000)
• Life and Death: Unapologetic Writings on the Continuing War Against Women (1997)
• Right-Wing Women: The Politics of Domesticated Females (1991)
• Letters from a War Zone: Writings, 1976-1987 (1988)
• Intercourse (1988)
• Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day for Women's Equality (1988)
• Pornography—Men Possessing Women (1981)
• Our Blood: Prophesies and Discourses on Sexual Politics (1976)
• Woman Hating (1974)

Fiction

• Mercy (1990)
• Ice and Fire (1986)
• The New Woman's Broken Heart: Short Stories (1980)

- Professor Lisa Jardine is professor of Renaissance Studies and dean of the Faculty of Arts at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London and Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
- Centre For Medieval & Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
- Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
- Department of History at Queen Mary, University of London.
- BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | Review | Lisa Jardine
- An interview with Lisa Jardine - Channel 4 History
This interview with Lisa Jardine was carried out by Oxford Film & Television for the Channel 4 programme The Great Fire of London.

Posted by Nick @ 07:10 GMT

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Monday, April 11, 2005

Bloggers in the news

Blogs Incensed Over Pulitzer Photo Award
New York Times - USA
There's always second-guessing when it comes to the Pulitzer Prize. But when The Associated Press was given the award for breaking ...

Behold, the wizard of blogs
Los Angeles Times (subscription) - CA,USA
... As a co-editor of one of the Web's most popular blogs, BoingBoing.net, Jardin is the cyberpunk babe who ferrets out odd blips of pop culture to amuse the more...

Posted by Nick @ 08:04 GMT

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Sunday, April 10, 2005

Celebrity etiquette. . . indeed

Improve your branding with the help of a classic writer - join a book club
Polly Vernon
Sunday April 10, 2005

Observer

Posted by Nick @ 09:00 GMT

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Monday, April 04, 2005

General Election watch

With the announcement of the date of the General Election set for today (though now postponed until tomorrow following events in Rome) The Guardian has unveiled its new Election 2005 blog.

Posted by Nick @ 13:00 GMT

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Sunday, April 03, 2005

Pope John Paul II (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) - RIP

Karol Józef Wojtyła(May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) was Pope from October 16, 1978 until his death.

The Web Remebers Pope John Paul II, Guardian Newsblog, Neil McIntosh, April 3 2005

Pope links, BuzzMachine, by Jeff Jarvis

Breakfast with David Frost, BBC One

Posted by Nick @ 10:30 GMT

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Friday, April 01, 2005

I know what I use mine for...

Gmail is one today.

Posted by Nick @ 10:00 GMT

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A salient point from The Guardian in the ongoing debate regarding the adjustment of the established print media to the ongoing 'blog revolution'

"News sites must embrace blogs, says Guardian," Posted: 31 March 2005 By: Jemima Kiss, Online Journalism News: Journalism.co.uk - THE ESSENTIAL SITE FOR JOURNALISTS.

"Blogs are an important editorial innovation that must be embraced by the news industry, according to Guardian Unlimited's assistant editor Neil McIntosh.

Outlining a few of the issues presented by the blogging phenomenon at the Blogs in Action conference at London's Poland Club last week, Mr McIntosh said blogs are just the beginning of a wave of exciting journalistic publishing techniques.

"Blogging has had a big impact on journalism and that will grow," he said. "In four years' time we'll be using even more exciting stuff - a million miles from the monolithic systems we use now."

Mr McIntosh said two issues are particularly difficult for news sites to overcome when exploring the blog format.

First, the blogosphere is very hostile towards journalists and the mainstream media - as demonstrated by the Rathergate episode last year. US broadcaster CBS sacked four employees after bloggers helped to expose flaws in a story about President Bush's war record." There seems to be the impression that mainstream news sites publishing blogs is a bit like watching a vicar disco dance," said Mr McIntosh." Blogs are an editorial innovation, and it's important that we pursue them for that reason. But a blog launch isn't a blog launch without sarcastic comments saying they shouldn't be there."

Second, editors often approach blogs in the wrong way. "They lean back in their chairs and ask: 'what can blogs do for me when I'm trying to build a brand that will last for 100 years?' Bloggers are undermining that business case," added Mr McIntosh."Being an innovator and pushing boundaries is the future," said Mr McIntosh. "You either do that - or accept that where we are now is as good as it gets. The Guardian is reluctant to do that."The Guardian's first experiment with blogs was back in 2000, as a repository of links to the rest of the web." It's important to show discussion elsewhere on the web, but that is daring for news sites."Editors can be terrified at the prospect of allowing blogging journalists to publish unedited writing, but Mr McIntosh insisted that the quality of work on the Guardian's blogs is as high as the rest of the site."

The interactivity is the real bonus. Journalists engage with comments from readers, and that's much better than if they don't believe people are reading their stuff."The exchange of views promoted by blogs is indeed a growing phenomenon. One story on the Guardian site during last November's US election triggered 800 comments. In addition, blogs often generate ideas for the editorial team, and the Guardian has recruited writers for the newspaper based on their accurate and well-written comments for the site's blogs.

Mr McIntosh also talked about the recently-launched Observer blog, which describes the editorial decisions and processes behind the production of the Sunday newspaper. He rejected a comment that the blog was a marketing exercise for the paper."The marketing department was not consulted at any point. If we were going to do that, our games blog probably has much more potential in terms of its market and audience for ads.""All blogs do something slightly different, and Rafael Behr [Observer web editor] made the decision to have something that lifts the lid on these processes," he said."

Posted by Nick @ 08:30 GMT

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Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Melinda and Melinda

Woody Allen's latest film grasps at greatness, decides to take itself too seriously instead.

Posted by Nick @ 07:58 GMT

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