2011
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Accidental Political Poets
Poetry is the literary art form that can most readily adapt the grammatically-fraught, political commentaries of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, apparently. Michael Solomon compiled and edited a bunch of Sarah Palin-isms in I Hope Like Heck: The Selected Poems…
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Chinese Political Prisoners and “Confessing”
“Chinese confessions are as much a ritual as the kowtow, the ‘three kneelings and the nine prostrations,’ of dynastic times. Foreign journalists are occasionally compelled to make such confessions, although they are in far less danger than Chinese dissidents. At…
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Goodbye Oxford Comma
A University of Oxford Style Guide has decided to go minimalist on all the grammarians and drop the oxford comma. They’re making big decisions over there. Watch out: ‘“As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma: so write…
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Readin Not Schemin
No need to worry, everybody! Ponzi schemer extraordinaire, Bernie Madoff, is doing totally fine in prison. He’s been reading a bunch! James Michener novels, to be specific. Will books enrich him with a newfound sense of moral integrity? Probably not…
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Ladies and Gentlemen
The brief unresolved narratives of Adam Ross’s new short story collection, Ladies and Gentlemen, show regular people with compelling problems.
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Kafka-ish
Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is being adapted into a “fresh modern horror” film of the same name. Shooting for the movie is beginning next month, but these things are already true: the traveling salesman Gregor Samsa will be a high-school teenager…
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Hey dudes, don’t give monkeys your food. Dorothy Parker’s writer’s block in telegraph form. I am a big fan of re-purposed factories. This is a fact. Have you guys seen the new Canadian money? Effective library displays!
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The Rumpus Interview With Chris Adrian
The list of reputable writers who have worked in the medical field is long and distinguished—Chekhov, Bulgakov, William Carlos Williams, among many others—and yet the promethean doctor-divinity-student-novelist-daredevil Chris Adrian,
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Next Up in the Tradition of Sadomasochistic Erotic Literature: Ariel Sands
Ariel Sands, the pseudonym of an internationally known nonfiction writer, is now exploring the fictional domain. Her first novel, Never the Face: A Story of Desire, explores sadomasochistic obsession through a sexually graphic narrative. Read what the author has to…
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Struggling Poet? No Worries, There’s An App For That.
There are now approximately 718 different apps–“PortaPoet”, “Erotic Poems” or “Prose for Bros” just to name a couple– that come up when you search “poetry” on iTunes’ App Store. Nick Laird examines how the fundamental nature of poetry is affected…
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“We Who Are About to Tweet”
On “We Who Are About to Tweet,” Ani Smith compiles twitter philosophies—which is great for reference on twitter etiquette and digging up 140-character gems of the past. And her most recent interview is Isaac “Why in the fuck was I…
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The Indie Lit Summit 2011
Washington, D.C.’s literary scene will be welcoming editors and writers alike for the Indie Lit City Summit on July 16, 2011. Largely organized by Dan Brady, one of the Barrelhouse editors, the event is meant to serve as a brainstorming…