Recent posts
Rumpus Articles
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When You’ve Only Got Four Books Left
“Bathetic self-deception, and unfulfilled dreams–a lament to passing time, and life not working out quite as one had hoped–have been the defining themes of almost all Ishiguro’s work. They are, on the face of it, puzzling preoccupations for one of…
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Margo Rabb: A Poem I Love
It’s rare to find a poem that perfectly captures the anger, absurdity, complexity, and hilarity of grief—something which Sherman Alexie does again and again in his new collection of poems, FACE, which is just out from Hanging Loose Press, and…
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In Search of Free Union
Free Union is much more than a small Virginia town. It is also the choice involved; the choice to go back to the land, the choice to settle with a partner, father children, and find both comfort and discomfort in…
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STORIES WE RECOMMEND: “Andy Catlett: Early Education”
I’ve been living in the Bay Area for nine months now, but after years in New York City I still feel like an exile here. Strangers’ smiles unnerve me; hikes, sadly, bore; driving terrifies. To ease the sense of displacement,…
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Pretty Babies
In December 2008, online photos of the Simpsons characters performing sexual acts were legally deemed child pornography, prompting Columbia University professor Anne Higonnet to question why we use our limited resources on cases against pictures of children, rather than for…
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The Beautiful Nightmares of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666
Prior to launching The Rumpus, during our test phase, we ran this incredible, thorough, and thoughtful review of Roberto Bolano’s 2666 by Michael Berger. Today seemed like a good day to bring it back. – SE
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Morning Coffee
sometimes, when it rains, we have our doubts… Start your day off right, with gratutious black and white pictures of bridges. In 1944 Japan launched an attack on the US using entirely unmanned balloon bombs. It was pretty rad. (via…
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An Oral History of Myself #1: Roger
In 2005 I began interviewing people I grew up with. Because I left home at thirteen and spent four years in group homes, my social network was significantly wider than most people of that age. What’s most interesting about these…
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Shorts Circuit: The Best of the Migrating Forms Film Festival
Nestled in the quiet weekend before the Tribeca Film Festival barnstormed into town, the inaugural Migrating Forms fest at Anthology Film Archives humbly went about its experimental business. Running from April 15th –April 19th, this wide-ranging and often thrilling offspring…