California Literary Review

Book Of A Lifetime: Mindblast, by Dambudzo Marechera: Mindblast (1984), the last book printed during his life, is unforgivably neglected. It is a literary scandal that it has never been published outside Zimbabwe. [Independent]

George Orwell: a life in quotes: “Prolonged, indiscriminate reviewing of books involves constantly inventing reactions towards books about which one has no spontaneous feelings whatever.” [Telegraph]

Once a pariah, now a favorite son: Seventy-five years ago a local boy named John O’Hara published his first novel – Appointment in Samarra – and left his former friends and neighbors fuming because it chronicled in great detail the business, brand-name, and bedroom preferences of the people in a town he called Gibbsville. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Amos Elon, Israeli Author, Dies at 82: Amos Elon, an Israeli essayist and author who examined his society’s flaws and myths, explored some of its greatest figures and became for many years its most renowned public intellectual, died Monday in Italy, where he had made his home since 2004. [NYT]

Forgotten authors No. 34: John Collier: In some ways, Collier feels like a natural successor to Saki. His simple, sharp style brought his tales colourfully to life. “The Devil, George, and Rosie” starts: “There was a young man who was invariably spurned by the girls, not because he smelt at all bad but because he happened to be as ugly as a monkey.” [Independent]