Harold Bloom
“I don’t see any point to literary criticism or literary editing unless it’s as personal as poetry, or some varieties of the novel, the story or drama. Literary criticism is…
Posts by year
2011
4022 posts
Bookending bin Laden
Mother Jones’s Michael Mechanic has pulled together how eight newspapers captured the defining moments of Osama bin Laden’s mortal entanglement with America. From the Gray Lady to the tabloids, it’s…
Erin Rose’s Tech Links
Sony chats with Congress about the large-scale hacks of their PS3 network that accessed user data & credit card numbers. Obama’s “Situation Room” photo is well on its way to…
Erin Dorsey: The Last Book I Loved, Wuthering Heights
I picked up this classic as one of my “Top Books to Read Before I Die.” One thing this list is teaching me is that you should banish all preconceived…
Not to Be Missed
If you haven’t read it already, be sure not to miss Lidia Yuknavitch’s essay, “The Urgent Matter of Books.”
Nicholas Rombes’s Art Film Roundup #6
Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2011) has the feel of a slow march through a black swamp. There is a majesty and a tar-pit trap power in the wordless…
Why I Chose Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars for the Rumpus Poetry Book Club
Tracy Smith’s LIFE ON MARS is a strong, surprising, and often beautiful book.
Happy Foot/Sad Foot
What do Jonathan Lethem, David Foster Wallace, and a Los Angeles podiatrist sign have in common? Laura Miller has the answer.
A Happy Ending in New York City
Rumpus Books section editor Andrew Foster Altschul will be reading tonight The Happy Ending Music and Reading series in New York City! Authors Emma Straub and Jon-Jon Goulian will also…
Splitting the Lark
Under Brimhall’s deft attention, the historical becomes personal, and the personal skirts the mythological.
Ashley Bethard: The Last Book I Loved, Goldengrove
Sometimes you revisit a book you love, like Francine Prose’s Goldengrove. Once you finish reading this book for the third time, you start thinking about your near-hero worship of Prose…
Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
First things first: DON’T EAT ARMADILLOS. Norway, Photochrom style. The Social Animal is a really weird book. Here are some things made out of staples. Also Ottoman architecture is pretty…