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Rumpus Articles
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My Favorite Clause: Ruminations on Stuart Dybek’s Penis
“Sauerkraut Soup” from Stuart Dybek’s 1986 debut collection Childhood and Other Neighborhoods begins with a narrator waxing philosophical on the cathartic nature of bodily purge. “Puking felt like crying,” he tells us. “At first I almost enjoyed it the way…
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Written on the Body
I’ve been in love with people who’ve had excerpts from Lord Jim scrolling up their arms, and Faunia Farley tattooed on their chest with an arrow going through a heart. It’s like you can’t escape these literary tattoos. But it…
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Morning Coffee
Dan is gone this week. I couldn’t believe it when he emailed me and asked me to fill in here. I’ve been waiting for his friendship since the first time I saw him. If anyone ever tells you you cant…
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The Cupboard
Over at <HTMLGiant>, Adam Peterson and Dave Madden talk about The Cupboard, “a quarterly pamphlet of creative prose.” “…we do really take the ‘Pamphlet’ part of our name seriously. We want to produce volumes that have that spirit, however hard…
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Take Your Shirt Off and Cry: The Rumpus Interview With Nancy Balbirer
Nancy Balbirer’s hilarious, soulful memoir about acting, Hollywood, art, fame, and misguided relationships, Take Your Shirt Off and Cry: A Memoir Of Near-Fame Experiences is told from the perspective of a woman who was sure that acting would be her…
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On the Inner Workings of Book Recommendations
My housemate just sent me a link to a fascinating web site called The Book Seer. The site asks you to enter the last book you read, and then it compiles book recommendations from Amazon, BookArmy, and LibraryThing. What was interesting…
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Why Writers Should Not Run for Office
In this article about the political fortunes of writer, country singer and gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, The Guardian reminds us that if history is any indication, writers should be wary of entering politics. “Consider the case of George Bernard Shaw,…
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More Crappy News for Short Story Writers
Mark Trainer publishes an excerpt of a note he received from a “thoughtful, well-respected agent” on his blog. “I have no confidence in being able to place a collection at this time in the world of publishing. Publishers don’t like…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
This week, the book blogs have went and gone political! Maybe it’s that it’s the off year in the election cycle and they miss the rabid infighting and corruption, or maybe it’s the news that the Kindle has already become…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Review Supplement
This week, Rumpus books reviews two novels, a book of short stories, and a collection of poetry. We’ve also got an interview with Rebecca Solnit, plus essays on Borges, Douglas Rushkoff and Leonardo Sinisgalli.