This weekend on the Dish, literary and religious coverage abounded. In literary news, Stephanie Nikolopoulos explained why Jack Kerouac was no Mr. Darcy, Kaya Genc described Oscar Wilde's short-lived day job, Verlyn Klinkenborg gave advice to young writers, Flannery O'Connor trained her withering criticism on Ayn Rand, Alexander Chee revealed what life is like in an artists' colony, Caroline Leung profiled a sex worker whose experiences provided fodder for her writing, and Maria Konnikova detailed why famous misquotations persist. Science fiction got its due, too - Alan Hurst pondered why Mormons excel at writing it and Charlie Jane Anders explored its connection to philosophy. Read Saturday's poem here and Sunday's here.
In wide-ranging religious coverage, Matthew Sitman argued that David Foster Wallace's life was a search for grace, Katherine Sharpe connected depression's stigma to a medieval sin, Rollo Romig used his first Ramadan fasting to point to God's unknowability, and Neuroskeptic noted the lack of religious invention during the past 20 years. Andrew Hartman thought the culture wars explained the GOP's Mormon/Roman Catholic ticket, Rowan Williams celebrated Marilynne Robinson's recovery of the word liberal, and Kenan Malik provided an 18-step guide to logic of religious freedom. Rick Warren struck again, this time turning to the Book of Daniel for diet advice, epitomizing the religious hucksterism that might explain why less Americans identify as religious – and more as atheist – than in the recent past.
In assorted coverage, two great trends of our time – the hipster and the rise of assholism – were put in perspective. Chas Danner highlighted the brilliant storytelling of Ed Gavagan, Greg Sargent ranted about Romney and Ryan's dodging of policy specifics, and the U.S. lost its fertility edge. A college professor offered cringe-inducing tales of student oversharing, Sky Dylan-Roberts spoke to the creators of beautiful tatoos and the stories behind them, and Paul Miller shared a dispatch from his year living without the Internet. In TV news, Emily Landau remembered the trailblazing show Degrassi Junior High and Steve Rinella of Meat Eater distanced himself from Bear Grylls. FOTDs here and here, MHBs here and here, VFYWs here and here, and the latest window contest here.
And last but certainly not least, we welcome Andrew back today. To mark the occasion we asked Barney Frank about the craziest thing Andrew's ever said.
– M.S.
(Photo by Flickr user kxcd)
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