Chapter 16 - Part 499

The People’s Philosopher

Noam Chomsky talks with Chapter 16 about the Occupy movement, the language of popular culture, and Gen Y

By Paul V. Griffith | January 12, 2012

January 12, 2012 During the mid-60s, Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar changed forever the debate about language acquisition and provided philosophers and psychologists a new way to think about the human mind. Chomsky’s work had political implications, too, and he has emerged as one of the left’s most implacable voices, challenging the often hidden structures that lie behind the abuse of power. Noam Chomsky will discuss the Occupy Movement in a talk at Rhodes College in Memphis on January 13 at 5 p.m.

Remembering Eleanor

Eleanor Ross Taylor is memorialized in a Washington Post obituary and in an essay in Shenandoah

By Margaret Renkl | January 12, 2012

January 12, 2012 There have been surprisingly few tributes to Eleanor Ross Taylor in the national media during the two weeks since her death: The New York Times, often considered the newspaper of record for books in the United States, still hasn’t published a single line about her loss, which would be a shocking omission but for the Gray Lady’s undeniable bias against poetry. So it’s all the more worth noting the coverage of Taylor’s life and literary significance in both The Washington Post and Shenandoah:

“Rhythm of Workers in the House”

By Georganne Harmon | January 11, 2012

January 11, 2011 Georganne Harmon grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where she and her husband now make their home. Her poems have appeared in various journals, including Pearl, Poem, Appalachian Voices, New Millennium Writings, Maypop, Slant, and others, and she has been the recipient of six awards by the Tennessee Writers Alliance and Tennessee Mountain Writers. A longtime teacher, Harmon conducts writing workshops for young people and adults. Italy, a second homeland to which she returns often, forms a part of her landscape. We Will Have Ghosts is her first book.

Every Picture Tells a Story

William B. Jones Jr. presents the second edition of his exhaustive history of Classics Illustrated

By Tina LoTufo | January 10, 2012

January 10, 2012 The publication of the first edition of Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History in 2001 was met with great appreciation among fans of mid-century comic books and comic-book artists. In the second edition, William B. Jones Jr. has incuded more than a hundred additional pages of historical facts, interviews, photos, and illustrations from the original comics, including full-color plates of iconic covers in the series. Jones calls them “as much a part of growing up in postwar America as baseball cards, hula hoops, Barbie dolls, or rock ‘n’ roll.”

Without a Literary Blueprint

Madison Smartt Bell remembers his early days in New York City

By Margaret Renkl | January 10, 2012

January 10, 2012 “I arrived in New York in 1979, without a literary blueprint,” writes Madison Smartt Bell in a new essay for The Millions. “I was a Southern boy, from rural Middle Tennessee (okay, by way of Princeton, I admit). My favorite writers at that time were Dostoevsky and Harry Crews. I didn’t know that a contemporary urban fiction existed.”

A Remarkable Life

Robert K. Massie’s biography shows the human side of Catherine the Great, Russia’s brilliant eighteenth-century monarch

By Fernanda Moore | January 9, 2012

January 9, 2012 In his new biography, Catherine the Great, Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massie (author of the bestselling Nicholas and Alexandra and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Peter the Great) follows the legendary Russian monarch’s splendid trajectory from powerless teenage girl to brilliant ruler. Massie, a former Nashville resident, recently spoke by phone with Chapter 16 about Catherine’s fascinating life—and even more fascinating character—prior to his Nashville appearance as part of the Salon@615 series. Massie will discuss Catherine the Great on January 15 at the Nashville Public Library. The event will begin with a reception at 2:15 p.m., followed by the author talk at 3. Both are free and open to the public.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher