The Daily Rumpus
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From Stephen Elliott
Every Monday I link to very short fiction I like that I hope you’ll like too:
“When we reach the street, the houses are dark, except for one—the grey one with the white trim, chain link fence, black oak tree.” — At Waccamaw, “A House Made of Stars” by Tawnysha Greene.
“On the street the air is fifty knives of cold. This is not Alaska. Why did we move here?” — At Fiction Southeast, “Winter” by Aimee Bender.
...moreLos Angeles centered, quarterly literary journal Slake is on its fourth publication. The “Dirt” themed issue features work from an array of talented writers including Lauren Groff, Luke Davies, Aimee Bender, Rumpus contributor Melissa Chadburn and columnist Antonia Crane.
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This week’s Letter In The Mail is by Aimee Bender. Her letter is written by hand and begins, Dear Reader, writing a letter is reminding me of other letters.
...moreAimee Bender responds to Full Stop’s Situation in American Writing survey. Bender discusses literary criticism’s transition to the Internet, the political tendencies of American writing, and whether she imagines a specific audience for her work:
“No, not a definite audience.
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I’ve been writing this column off and on for a few years now and I thought I’d shake it up a bit by turning it into a dialogue.
I don’t think of anyone specific while writing, and I don’t want to get caught up in imagining what a reader might think because I do think that can get distracting. But I just think it has become clearer to me that writing is making a vessel to send to a reader.
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In his introduction to the issue, guest editor Jim Shepard says, “I’ve been drawn to protagonists who are geniuses at knitting together self-indictment and self-exoneration in ways that are both unconscious and calculated. Protagonists who leave us to sort through what they’ve figured out, what they can’t figure out, and what they won’t try to figure out about themselves.”
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This week in New York Stephen Colbert celebrates Ulysses, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson are King and Queen of the Mermaid Parade, Heidi Julavits interviews Aimee Bender at Symphony Space, Gordon Lish MCs the NY Tyrant reading, Ann Beattie reads at Book Court, Mary Caponegro headlines the Big Other extravaganza, Light Industry presents short films curated by Jack Stevenson, CLMP colonizes Housing Works for its Giant Lit Mag Fair, and BAMcinemaFEST continues.