Jeremy May, a London-based artist, makes "literary jewels" by cutting a cross-section from a book, laminating each of the pages together (so that the object has hundreds of layers), shaping them into a ring or a bracelet or a necklace, and adding a glossy finish.
It seems fitting that "Godot" — which also stars Nathan Lane, John Glover and John Goodman — returns to Broadway in an interpretation that emphasizes the irresistible rhythms achieved by Beckett's radical literary surgery, that of cutting basic theatrical diversions off at the knees.
Anyway I can't think of any other reason to leave this excellent novel off the shortlist except perhaps a spiteful delight in cutting a literary titan down to size, or even anxiety about entangling the Booker in Rushdie's difficult relationship with a major world religion.
Unfortunately there are other forces cutting back on the literary.
Marian Evans (the novelist George Eliot), writing alongside Huxley on the rationalist Westminster Review, an influential magazine at the cutting edge of 19th-century literary Britain, saw his brilliance as counterpoised by a love of provocation.
Like Frankenstein, Strange Bodies is steeped in literary history even as it plays with the cutting edge of science.
Publishers are playing literary agents at their own game, seeking out new talent for themselves and cutting out the industry's powerful middlemen.
Long gone from the cutting edge of university life, the radical sociologist was replaced by the poststructuralist literary scholar.
The faculty is on the cutting edge of research in every field, from marine biology to astrophysics to literary criticism and political science.
Literary journals have been threatened repeatedly by universities in recent years, a target of recession-era budget cutting.
