NOTA BENE

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Matteo Pericoli is the founder of the Laboratory of Literary Architecture, an interdisciplinary project that looks at fiction through the lens of architecture, designing and building stories as architectural projects. In this series, he shares some of his designs and what they reveal about the stories they’re modeled on.

By Matteo Pericoli, The Paris Review [11 11 2016]

Robert Conquest’s muses
Until a few days before his death last year at the age of ninety-eight, Robert Conquest was busy finishing his memoir, completing a poem or two, and sending off a steady stream of letters to a wide international circle of friends.

By Cynthia Haven, The Times Literary Supplement [7 11 2016]

The Meaning of Bob Dylan’s Silence
In the summer of 1964, Bob Dylan released his fourth album, “Another Side of Bob Dylan,” which includes the track “It Ain’t Me Babe.” “Go ’way from my window/Leave at your own chosen speed,” it begins. “I’m not the one you want, babe/I’m not the one you need.”

By Adam Kirsch, The New York Times [27 10 2016]

William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12
Recently, though shy and retiring, Faulkner has traveled widely, lecturing for the United States Information Service. This conversation took place in New York City, early in 1956.

Interview by Jean Stein, The Paris Review [30 9 2016]

Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis - one of the greatest love letters ever written
Written towards the end of Wilde’s incarceration, De Profundis is bitter, seductive, hurt and passionate.

By Colm Tóibín, The Guardian [31 8 2016]