The Bird That Swallowed Its Cage: Walter Murch and Lawrence Weschler

The works of Curzio Malaparte, an Italian journalist, novelist, diplomat and political exile, have been translated into English for the first time by film editor, Walter Murch. Murch chanced upon one of Malaparte’s stories in a French book about cosmology, where it was being retold to illustrate a point about conditions shortly after the creation of the universe. The story was in fact Kaputt, Malaparte’s autobiographical novel about the frontlines of World War War II.The Bird That Swallowed its Cage is Murch’s translation and adaptation of this and other of Malaparte’s visceral, richly imagistic writings, a body of prose and blank verse poems whose subject and landscape is the trauma of war.

Walter Murch will be joined in conversation by Lawrence Weschler, writer of the foreword to the book and the author, most recently, of Uncanny Valley: Adventures in the Narrative.

From INSIDE NEW YORK – At Despaña (408 Broome St., 212-219-5050), a speciality store cum tapas café, everything from the service to the decor is simple and sleek, as if any excessive decoration might take away from the stunning array of Spanish produce that colors the menu. We met with project manager Dana, whose passion for and knowledge of Spanish cuisine was apparent from the outset. Leading us around the Soho store, she explained that Despaña began as a supplier of gourmet Spanish produce to restaurants around the city but now also serves up its own produce, either in tapas-style plates or bocadillos (Spanish for “little bites”). Almost everything on the menu is imported from one region or another in Spain and boasts its own specificities of preparation… Read the full review at Inside New York.

• Books & Literature

The works of Curzio Malaparte, an Italian journalist, novelist, diplomat and political exile, have been translated into English for the first time by film editor, Walter Murch. Murch chanced upon one of Malaparte’s stories in a French book about cosmology, where it was being retold to illustrate a point about conditions shortly after the creation of the universe. The story was in fact Kaputt, Malaparte’s autobiographical novel about the frontlines of World War War II.The Bird That Swallowed its Cage is Murch’s translation and adaptation of this and other of Malaparte’s visceral, richly imagistic writings, a body of prose and blank verse poems whose subject and landscape is the trauma of war.

Walter Murch will be joined in conversation by Lawrence Weschler, writer of the foreword to the book and the author, most recently, of Uncanny Valley: Adventures in the Narrative.

From INSIDE NEW YORK – At Despaña (408 Broome St., 212-219-5050), a speciality store cum tapas café, everything from the service to the decor is simple and sleek, as if any excessive decoration might take away from the stunning array of Spanish produce that colors the menu. We met with project manager Dana, whose passion for and knowledge of Spanish cuisine was apparent from the outset. Leading us around the Soho store, she explained that Despaña began as a supplier of gourmet Spanish produce to restaurants around the city but now also serves up its own produce, either in tapas-style plates or bocadillos (Spanish for “little bites”). Almost everything on the menu is imported from one region or another in Spain and boasts its own specificities of preparation… Read the full review at Inside New York.