Ange Mlinko’s insightful “Angels to Radios: On Rainer Maria Rilke” appears in The Nation. An excerpt: Rilke had been fascinated…
Bookmarks or Dog-ears?
The earlier post about reading rituals made me want to get more specific. I treat my books like shit–I use…
Novel Nausea
Zadie Smith talks the essay and the novel at The Guardian. An excerpt: Novels, by contrast, are idiosyncratic, uneven, embarrassing,…
Big Other Contributors’ News #6
Molly Gaudry and Kim Chinquee have been translated into Polish, alongside Matt Bell, Jamie Iredell, Claudia Smith, and a number…
Genre and Its Discontents
Piggybacking on Sean Lovelace’s post about genre, I offer this provocative recent interview with Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., coeditor of the…
Isn’t it Ironic?
Sometimes I get confused about irony. Today we learn that loneliness is contagious. Does that count?
Look at my Big Brain!
You are a celebrity. People will photograph you always. What book do you flash?
A lead up
What role do YOU think small press plays?
Firing Jim Crace
A sad thing happened this evening: I let Jim Crace go. I read Being Dead last year, and was disappointed,…
A Coloring Contest
Patrick Wensink recently decided there’s only one way to celebrate the release of his book, “Sex Dungeon for Sale!”. And…