“Writing is, in many ways, an act of faith. You have to believe in yourself. You have to work towards a goal that may, at first, seem inaccessible and far-fetched.”
On “Outside Is the Ocean”: An Interview with Matthew Lansburgh Read More »
“Music, the visual arts, and, predominantly, the writing of books have all been enduring interests, and the arrangement of these essays — long, brief, long, brief, long — is meant to mirror those concerns.”
On “Curiouser and Curiouser”: An Interview with Nicholas Delbanco Read More »
“Jealousy requires an act of looking, and my characters spend a lot of time looking at what others have—or anyway, what they think others have—and sometimes making not-so-great decisions based on that misguided idea.”
“Say Something Nice About Me”: An Interview with Sara Schaff Read More »
“I suppose I realized I was working toward a book when I asked myself, How close can you get to an extinct bird? And then, I set out to try. My journey of combing through museums and specimen drawers was what ultimately spurred the longer narrative. Once I held an extinct bird skin in my hands, I knew I had to start sounding some alarms about our own environmental crises.”
On “Flock Together”: An Interview with B.J. Hollars Read More »
If one doesn’t like an article enough to finish it, fine, but why not move on?
Kindly Remove Your Boots and Join Me in the Mud Pit Read More »
Excerpts and curios from around the web:
King Lear on the mean streets of Twitter, a case for simulated reality run by our far-off future ancestors, and some revelations on the burial sites of Cervantes and Aristotle. Plus: Rebecca Schiff on the political inconsistencies between an author and her characters: “If you’re tapping into something emotional—even if you’re really left-wing, like I am—you might wind up finding a conservative streak in you. And, as a fiction writer, if I feel like if that’s an important part of the character, I need to let that out, even if it’s not what I ‘officially’ believe.”
King Lear on the Mean Streets of Twitter, and more Read More »
Excerpts and curios from around the web:
The enduring art of literary hate mail, Shakespeare as a springboard for spanking, some thoughts on why giving up writing might not be wrong, and Lydia Davis on why we should read translated works. Plus: Vinson Cunningham on what qualities make an essay uniquely American: “As much as one might wish to lay claim to the sensibility of, say, Montaigne—the ruminative philosopher’s ideal, the notion of the essay as neutral attempt—most of us Americans are Emersons: artful sermonizers, pathological point-makers, turntablists spinning the hits with future mischief in mind.”
Literary Hate Mail, Sex with Shakespeare, and more Read More »
Excerpts and curios from around the web:
Walt Whitman’s guide to health and better living, the grudge narratives of LIGO scientists, and Lord Byron’s apocalyptic poetry. Plus: Hulu adapts The Handmaid’s Tale for the small screen, and Catherine Nichols explores the character adaptability that makes a novel addictive: “The adaptation technique isn’t just an efficient way of telegraphing psychological depth; it hits the reader like rock n’ roll.”
Manly Beauty–The True Ambition, and more Read More »
Excerpts and curios from around the web:
The literature of mechanical life, debunking “the ladder of nature,” the legacy of the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, and more. Plus: A look at Klaus Theweleit’s Male Fantasies in relation to the current election cycle: “Trump may look like a rancid creampuff in a Brioni suit, but his crass language serves the function of a ripped physique in a ripped T-shirt, projecting a Stanley Kowalskian virility.”
Automaton Lit, Clever Macaques, and more Read More »
Excerpts and curios from around the web:
Mary Kelly on the diapers that made her an icon, one man’s journey to recover the records of his youth, Judith Beheading Holofernes … again, and a reissue of a Marianne Moore classic. Plus: Details on Lincoln in the Bardo, a forthcoming novel from George Saunders.
Maternal Detritus, Lost Vinyl, Caravaggios in the Attic, and more Read More »
