This year marks the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of Samuel Johnson, the great pioneer of English-language lexicography. To celebrate, the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University has launched Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, which presents a word a day from Johnson's landmark Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Words are taken from the annotated proof copy of the first edition held at Beinecke, adorned with handwritten corrections by Johnson and his helpers. Some early selections follow below.  Continue reading...

The world has lost Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter, a master of language and silence. Bloggers remember.

Theater Loop

Parabasis

OC Register: The Arts

Mental Floss

The trans-Atlantic words of the year have been selected on the Separated by a Common Language blog. Best American-to-British import is meh, and the best British-to-American import is vet (the verb). Read all about it here (and read our own discussion of meh here and vet here).

From Three Percent, the blog of the University of Rochester publishing house Open House Books, comes word of a stupendous literary feat. The French writer Mathias Énard has published a 517-page novel entitled "Zone," and the whole thing (aside from a few pages of flashbacks) consists of a single 150,000-word sentence! Don't know French? No problem: Open House is publishing an English translation, due out in 2010.  Continue reading...

Here are a few blogs for exploring the fascinating world of Latino literature.

La Bloga

Letras Latinas

Literanista

Over on Separated by a Common Language, Lynne Murphy has her own trans-Atlantic twist on the usual Word of the Year selections. Make your nominations for "Best American to British import" and "Best British to American import."