New Yorker Briefly Noted: Renoir Girls, GPS History, Kracht Novel, Calder Romance
The New Yorker's Briefly Noted section reviews four books. Catherine Ostler's "The Renoir Girls" is a biography of the daughters of a French Jewish banking dynasty, painted by Renoir and connected to Proust, exploring antisemitism in 1880s Paris. Katherine Dunn's "Little Blue Dot" traces the history of GPS from WWII radio-wave bombing to its dual civilian-military nature. Christian Kracht's "Air" (translated by Daniel Bowles) interweaves a present-day Luddite designer's disappearance in Norway with a fantastical pre-modern realm. Jem Calder's "I Want You to Be Happy" follows a London romance between a barista-poet and a copywriter-novelist, examining self-sabotage.
Key facts
- Catherine Ostler wrote 'The Renoir Girls' (Atria).
- The book covers daughters of a French Jewish banking dynasty painted by Renoir.
- Renoir declared in 1882 he was 'washing my hands of the Jews'.
- Katherine Dunn's 'Little Blue Dot' (Bloomsbury) covers GPS history from WWII.
- GPS remains a military product for precision bombing.
- Christian Kracht's 'Air' (Liveright) translated by Daniel Bowles.
- The novel has two storylines: a designer in Norway and a fantastical realm.
- Jem Calder's 'I Want You to Be Happy' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) set in London.
Entities
Artists
- Catherine Ostler
- Katherine Dunn
- Christian Kracht
- Daniel Bowles
- Jem Calder
Institutions
- Atria
- Bloomsbury
- Liveright
- Farrar, Straus & Giroux
- The New Yorker
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Norway
- London
- United Kingdom