Chapter 16 - Part 537

Unanointed, Unannealed

Journalist Stanley Booth considers his friend William Eggleston, the father of modern color photography

By Stanley Booth | January 20, 2011

January 20, 2011 Memphis artist William Eggleston is all over the news: this week marks the closing of a retrospective exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the announcement of a proposed Eggleston museum in his native Memphis, and the opening of an Eggleston exhibit at the Frist Museum of Art in Nashville. In addition, Twin Palms Publishers recently brought out a new collection of Eggleston prints—itself a companion volume to Michael Almereyda’s documentary film, William Eggleston in the Real World. Today, journalist Stanley Booth, a longtime friend of Eggleston from his own Memphis days, considers the work of the man known as “the father of modern color photography.”

A Disturbing Sweetness

Poet Diann Blakely looks at the work of legendary Memphis photographer William Eggleston

By Diann Blakely | January 20, 2011

January 20, 2011 One of the most striking images in Michael Almereyda’s documentary film, William Eggleston in the Real World, also appears on the cover of the new Eggleston collection, For Now: Eggleston’s wife, Rosa, lies sleeping with a yellow-flowered duvet bunched across her middle, one slender, aristocratic hand holding the sheets in place near the pubic region. Has the couple just had sex? Rosa’s lovely long legs end in feet that appear slightly dirty; the room is small, dingy, and low-ceilinged. The gaping closet door has a pink, pocketed storage container hanging over the top, and a plastic, brown-nippled baby bottle sits on top of a staticky television. Remember when TV used to go “off the air” at night? There’s something yellow and disturbing about the portrait.

Tournament-Ready

Amy Greene’s Bloodroot makes the 2011 Tournament of Books

By Margaret Renkl | January 20, 2011

January 20, 2011 The Morning News has entered Amy Greene’s debut novel Bloodroot in its Seventh Annual Tournament of Books. The competition, which pits sixteen of the most critically acclaimed novels of the previous year against each other in a seeded bracket, doesn’t kick off until March 7. The news today “will allow time for Tournament fans to begin reading so they can follow along with the blood sport,” notes the press release.

The Love Song of Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown’s raw, lyrical poetry begs to be sung

By Fernanda Moore | January 19, 2011

January 19, 2011 Jericho Brown’s poetry affects the reader like a song that’s impossible to shake; his beautiful lyrics read like music, hitting the subconscious in the same direct and soul-inspiring way. Brown will read from his work at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center on the Vanderbilt University campus on January 20 at 7 p.m.

Going Native

In a collection of stories, Sybil Baker describes one woman’s search for connection

By Paul V. Griffith | January 18, 2011

January 18, 2011 Talismans is a series of short stories that, not unlike photos in an album, work together to tell a larger tale. Written by Sybil Baker, an English professor at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, these brief snapshots center on Elise, the daughter of a church organist and a Vietnam vet, whose early suburban life is a quagmire of sexual experimentation and social unease. Eventually, Elise drifts to Southeast Asia, where she searches for a connection: to her late father, her lovers, her fellow travelers, and eventually to the local culture and the land itself.

Employed by Truth

Poet Nikki Giovanni is still speaking her mind

By Maria Browning | January 17, 2011

January 17, 2011 Since she first gained attention in the late 1960s with fiery screeds like “The Great Pax Whitie,” Nikki Giovanni has been both one of America’s most popular poets and a cultural leader in the African American community. Now in her fifth decade of literary prominence, Giovanni is still pursuing her craft, her passion for education, and her penchant for speaking her mind.

Isabel and the Invisible World

By Alan Lightman, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki
MIT Kids Press
40 pages
$18.99

“In simple, engaging language, complemented by luminous artwork from best-selling illustrator Ramona Kaulitzki, author and physicist Alan Lightman unveils the hidden world of light waves—the ones you can see and the ones you can’t.”

~ the publisher