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August Wilson wrote one of his best plays by staring at a Romare Bearden collage until it told him what happened next (New York Times). Not influence in the sentimental sense, but a transfer of structure across forms, he felt.
Lucy Caldwell reports that after Ulysses, even her text messages fizz differently (The Guardian). Then there’s a report that book cover design has been rebuilt around the phone screen, where a thumbnail is the first and often only impression, and designers have turned that constraint into a real new craft (Literary Hub). And as the Odyssey has its biggest cultural moment in a century, a reminder that the classical inheritance was never white Europe’s private property (The Atlantic).
The through-line: strong work isn’t only an object; it informs the next thing. Institutions sitting on collections and repertoires are sitting on maps, not inventory, which seems important as a tide of contextless synthetic art rises.
And there’s evidence the public understands this instinctively: the EU opened euro banknote design to crowdsourcing, and several submissions would appear to be better than the official shortlist (Fast Company).
Also, Tom Hiddleston has turned into a working classicist (New York Times). Loki, of all the gods, is doing the reading.
All of our stories below.
