times square by andreas gursky

More Life: On Contemporary Autofiction and the Scourge of “Relatability”

So why, today, is autofiction making such a comeback? What does it do, or appear to do, that other forms do not? My guess is that, given how in our ethos, in the age of social media, privacy is passé and the personal is public, many readers want from their authors what they want from their friends on Facebook: personal transparency.

More Life: On Contemporary Autofiction and the Scourge of “Relatability” Read More »

MQR 57:3 | Summer 2018

Our Summer 2018 issue is here! Featuring essays by Sarah Appleton Pine, Karen Benning, Jennifer De Leon, Matt Jones, Gretchen Knapp, and Angela Morales.

Fiction by Lindsey Drager, Elizabeth Gaffney, Anthony Inverso, and Perry Janes.

Poetry by Jasmine V. Bailey, Kai Carlson-Wee, Flower Conroy, Angie Estes, Torrin A. Greathouse, Judy Halebsky, Peter Krumbach, Michael McKee-Green, Jenna Le, Julian Randall, Jeffrey Skinner, Soren Stockman, and Zhang Zao (translated by Gavin Gao).

MQR 57:3 | Summer 2018 Read More »

painting of a woman titled moise kisling, the beautiful brazilian

“How to Find Your Mother In Her Portrait,” by Iman Mersal

“The woman in the picture is not just different from what I remember of her, or want to remember: she is a ghost, like the ghosts I would see on strips of negatives as a girl. In daylight I would hold them up to my eye, trying to guess who they were, and when I grew bored of this, I would fashion these haunted ribbons into bracelets round my wrist.”

“How to Find Your Mother In Her Portrait,” by Iman Mersal Read More »