He was the most prominent of France's "new novelists," a group that emerged in the mid-1950s and whose experimental works tossed aside traditional literary conventions like plot and character development, narrative and chronology, chapters and punctuation. Others included Claude Simon, Michel Butor and Nathalie Sarraute.

Ellie from Strong Bindery came in all upset over the news that Jane Rule has died.  End of an era.  Jane Rule made big waves in her day, and is largely lost in regonition in these more accepting times.  Her 1964 lesbian romance Desert of the Heart became a classic, and later a film.  After all, there was a happy ending!  Her nonfiction work Lesbian Images is considered a landmark.  Literature, and society, has indeed been altered by the pioneers like Jane Rule, who broke all the rules.  Rest in well-deserved and long-sought peace. 

IN MEMORIAM: ELIZABETH HARDWICK
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Harriett

Elizabeth Hardwick, the critic, essayist, fiction writer and co-founder of The New York Review of Books died on December 2nd.  Among her published works are The Ghostly Lover, Sleepless Nights, The Simple Truth, A View of My Own: Essays in Literature and Society, Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature, Bartleby in Manhattan and Other Essays, Sight Readings: American Fiction, and Herman Melville. 

She was married and divorced to poet Robert Lowell, with whom she had a daughter, Harriet Lowell.  Her career as a teacher, writer, and essayist was well respected, and as her reputation grew, she was invited to sit on a remarkable collection of literary prize committees, including the National Book Awards, National Book Critics Circle, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Whiting Writers’ Awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.  She herself received awards from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, an honorary degree from Smith College, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters.  An impressive literary life. 

IN MEMORIAM: NORMAN MAILER
Monday, November 12, 2007
Harriett

There are some really great essays and memoriams on Mailer, now that the news has sunk in a little.  My book-biz e-newsletter presented a nice list of links to some great obits, and since most of you probably don't know about Shelf Awareness, I thought it might be appropriate to share that list here. 

"He probably would not have wanted an old man's death. He would have preferred some other way: an accident or a bar fight or a lover's brawl. So that his death, like his remarkable life, could inspire or appall and above all, cause people to talk."  (The Guardian).  Well, people are talking.
 

IN MEMORIAM: FUP
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Harriett

We're deeply saddened to report that Fup, Powell's Books's store cat, died on October 25 at age 19. She was a longtime resident of Powell's Technical Books and her adventures were chronicled regularly on Powells.com.

View a touching tribute from Ron Silberstein, assistant manager of Powell's Technical Books, and many heartfelt comments from Fup fans everywhere on Powells.com.

The store asks that in lieu of cards or flowers, donations be made to the Oregon Humane Society in Fup's name.

IN MEMORIAM: PEG BRACKEN
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Harriett

My mother swore by her copy of The I Hate to Cook Book, often loudly, and sometimes with a cigarette and a glass of wine in hand, as the author would not only approve, but prescribe in her recipes.  Shortcuts and improvisation were the best tools taught in Bracken's irreverent manual, and no doubt succeeded in forming inventive and creative cooks as a by-product.  Her style is still very much in use in today's society, although the microwave and modern packaging have made quick cooking much easier and more common than it was in 1960 when her first book appeared.  It was a well-deserved bestseller, and we thank Peg Bracken for her insight, humor, and talent.

Also In Memoriam today is Elaine's husband Michael, a kind soul who preferred the company of his dogs to most people, and whose political acumen was fiery and sharp.  (Elaine's book review of the Dalai Lama's The Universe in a Single Atom appears on the blog entry for October 12).  Michael was also a scientist and a great cook, with a sense of humor to rival Peg Bracken's.  He will be missed. 

IN MEMORIAM:  MADELEINE L'ENGLE
Friday, August 7, 2007
Harriett

What a loss.  Madeleine L'Engle, age 88, died on Thursday.  Her famous books, The Wrinkle in Time quintet, had just been reissued in shiny new packages in May.  Almost a memorial edition.

L'Engle once said that writing “does indeed have something to do with faith: faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

We'll miss her and her stories.  And we'll miss Luciano Pavarotti's voice, too.  And their faith in the arts to heal and cheer our kind.

IN MEMORIAM: MADELEINE B. STERN
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Harriett

Madeleine B. Stern died on August 18, 2007 at the age of 95.  Together with the late Leona Rostenberg, the two broke boundaries in the antiquarian book trade.  Rostenberg was the first woman President of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and Stern was responsible for putting on the first Antiquarian Book Fair.  The bookdealer team Rostenberg & Stern also wrote numerous memoirs and book chronicles and were friends and partners for over 50 years.  Among their books are the memoirs Old Books Rare Friends, Old & Rare, Bookends, and several other books about the antiquarian book trade and literary discoveries, like discovering the thrillers written by Louisa May Alcott.  Ah, the end of an era...  But is it?  Bookends has been made into a musical and is currently in production at New Jersey Rep.