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Rumpus Articles
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A Tree Grows in Detroit
If you thought there was an odd brilliance in Steven Soderberg setting Out of Sight‘s stirring first love scene against snow settling over the ruins of Detroit, and that Robert Polidori’s large-format photos of Havana’s faded glory were as beautiful…
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Show Your Work!
Matthew Zapruder proposes we meet the current explosion of variety coursing through contemporary poetry head-on with a new kind of criticism. Zapruder wants critics to talk a little less about what the poem said and a little more about how…
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The Ground Beneath Their Feet
Aaron Gwyn’s novel describes a world in which people can fall through the surface of the earth and be snatched by a mythological creature, never to be heard from again.
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It’s No Bullshit!
Although George Carlin is renowned for his standup comedy, a career more prolific than that of any other modern practitioner of the form, he had some fascinating detours along the way. He was Mr. Conductor in the old Shining Time…
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Mr. J.D.
Once again a journalist turns up at J.D. Salinger’s house, and once again gets turned away. In Japan — not being in easy driving distance of Cornish, NH — they must turn to Blankey Jet City’s song “Salinger,” with its…
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Bravery, Panties, and Devil’s Tower: The Rumpus Interview with Laurel Nakadate
Laurel Nakadate is a photographer and filmmaker from New York City.
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American Short Stories
A.O. Scott gives a nice shout out to the craft of American short stories in the New York Times, particularly praising, Flannery O’Connor, John Cheever, and Donald Barthelme. For more on Cheever, Slate ran a review of his newest biography.…
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Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika
Spire Christian Comics was an old comics company that, like many other publishers (including Marvel, in its early years), was distributed and printed by a larger company. Archie Comics, the publisher that got famous off of superheroes like The Shield…
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Joey Nicoletti: A Poem I Love
I am smitten with Milton Kessler’s “Comma of God.” It’s a poem of great texture: a prayer, a chant, an adroit benediction. Perhaps most of all, it’s a testament to a fully lived life; an edifice of gratitude for having…