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Rumpus Articles
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The Elusive Happy Ending
Happy endings are hard to come by in great literature, especially in stories that center on affluent American suburbs and their inhabitants. Over at the Atlantic, writer Ted Thompson looks at the hopeful and redemptive (but still believable) dramatic climax…
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We Can Rebuild Ourselves by Reading
Libraries without Borders unveiled its latest project at the New York Public Library. They’re shipping a “library in a box,” or Idea Boxes, to refugee camps. The idea is that food, water and shelter aren’t enough, said Patrick Weil, the…
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The Rumpus Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel
This may be as close as Wes Anderson gets to making a political film. And he has found a way to make a political statement in his signature style, a style which for years has appeared immune to political statements…
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Dispatches from the Rust Belt
Morning Edition interviews writer and journalist David Giffels about his new book, The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt. Giffels writes about his choice to remain in Akron, Ohio when everyone around him seemed to be leaving,…
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Life is Short, Read Good Books
The Millions interviews Little, Brown editor Allie Sommer on the ins-and-outs of being an editor. She talks about her pet peeves, editing style, pleasure reading, and how the process of editing a book differs with every new project: “Nobody tells you,…
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Penelope and Phyllis
Two mid-century writers you don’t hear a lot about are getting some attention: Penelope Mortimer at The Daily Beast, and Phyllis McGinley at The Paris Review. Though they shared publication histories (and initials), their styles couldn’t have been more different. Penelope tended to write dark,…
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“A Bitter Cup of Tea” Worth Drinking
Electric Literature has a new review up for Rumpus columnist Jerry Stahl‘s latest book, Happy Mutant Baby Pills: Jerry Stahl’s Happy Mutant Baby Pills is a hurricane of comedic and satirical horrors involving drug abuse, violence, manic lovers (including their manic sex lives), and…
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Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Anita Felicelli reviews BOY, SNOW, BIRD by Helen Oyeyemi today in The Rumpus Book Reviews.
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Make/Work Episode 9: Jon Bernson and Jennifer Welch
Every creative laborer has a story about negotiating the relationship between their creative work and their paycheck.
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Very old cheese. We all want to look at Instagram photos of North Korea. Art deco Japanese railway posters. Woah woah woah, what are you doing there, rings around an asteroid? If anyone needs me I’ll be on the space Mayflower.
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The Midwest is the Future of American Literature
Flavorwire’s Jason Diamond insists that writers can eschew New York City in favor of greener pastures, offering a comprehensive defense of Franzen country: A closer look at the literary map of the 50 states reveals that even if the publishing industry writ large…
