In 1927, the publisher of Paris-Soir  newspaper hired the prolific novelist Georges Simenon to become an advertising attraction. They had a glass booth constructed in the lobby of the newspaper where Simenon, under eyes of the public, was to write a novel over the course of three days and nights. But on the eve of the event, the newspaper went bankrupt.

More art than literature, the book “And Every Single One Was Someone” consists of the single word “Jew,” in tiny type, printed six million times to signify the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. | NY Times | Continue reading

French philosopher, critic, and filmmaker Guy Debord’s first book, Mémoires, was bound with a sandpaper cover so that it would destroy other books placed next to it. Mémoires was written by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn in 1957. Debord himself often referred to Mémoires as an anti-book. The text is entirely composed of fragments taken from other texts: photographs, advertisements, comic strips, poetry, novels, philosophy, pornography, architectural diagrams, newspapers, military histories, wood block engravings, travel books, etc. Each page presents a collage of such materials connected or effaced by Jorn’s structures portantes, lines or amorphous painted shapes that mediate the relationships between the fragments.

Edgar Allan Poe lived at 35 different addresses in his 40 years. The orphaned son of itinerant actors, he never truly belonged anywhere. Taken in but not adopted by foster parents in Richmond, Poe lived in England, Charlottesville, Old Point Comfort, Sullivan’s Island, West Point, and then Baltimore, Richmond again, Philadelphia, New York City, Richmond again, and then finally in Baltimore, where he died on his way to New York. He searched for ways to make a living with his pen and to protect the health of his fragile young wife, purposes often at odds with one another.

“EVERYBODY KNOWS STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, WHEN hostages develop an attachment to their captors. But who knows its two opposites? Lima Syndrome is when the hostage takers start sympathizing with the hostages. And London Syndrome is when hostages become argumentative toward their captors—often with deadly results.” 10 Cities With Their Own Psychological Disorders —