The Rumpus Oral History Project — Harry Ricker, Alaskan
It is -7º F outside. In his kitchen, Harry makes me tea. He is a broad-shouldered man with a prominent chin and a deep, smooth voice. He has been remodeling…
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Rumpus Articles
Scott Hutchins: The Last Book I Loved, The Easter Parade
It seems that every once in a while living writers pick a dead writer to gather around and champion, and this was definitely the case with Richard Yates around the…
The Resurrectionist Subterfuge
“In traditional taxidermy, it is the animal that is put on display; in the deployments of taxidermy by contemporary artists, it is arrangement itself, the taxidermic dispositif, that is on…
The Rumpus Interview with David Wain
Here are a few things to know about David Wain that will help you get the most out of this interview: – David Wain is (in no hierarchical order) a…
But Seriously, You Are the Rainbow
When I was little I would squint my eyes in a dark room and see stippled, fluorescent color. I wondered if everyone saw the same thing. Now, thanks to the DNA…
The House of Wigs
“The diary of a copywriter, written on company time, billed to the client.” The House of Wigs is a small collection of sixty admirable short stories from the folks at…
Secondhand Bookiestore
A neat find on eBay: someone’s in the last day of an auction on a Harry Stephen Keeler book with a letter from ol’ Harry himself tucked in. Keeler notes…
The Last Book I Loved: The Road
This semester, I decided to teach The Road by Cormac McCarthy. After I got my desk copy, I was sitting on BART, on my way home, and I started rereading…
The Rumpus Original Combo: Paul Yoon’s Once the Shore
“One time I was reading Haruki Murakami and I thought: if I had the chance, would I ever ask him why his characters always vanish? I’m not sure I’d want…
Bad Mommy’s Shorty Q&A with Peter Rock
James Ellroy says that, “My Abandonment is an electrically charged, bone-deep, and tender tale of loss and partial redemption.”
The Joys of Depth
How does a baby view its mother? This question bothers Ken Jacobs, a legend of independent film, whose work is currently on view at tank.tv (a free online film gallery…
A FAN’S NOTES: Beautiful Losers
My home town’s minor league hockey team went through several transformations when I was growing up. First they were called the Dusters, a name that evoked dirt roads, not slick…