The Saturday Rumpus Review: Güeros
It’s a literal confrontation of his metaphorical fear, a visual take on Rilke’s words: to view Güeros is to see a “thing poem” on the screen, to witness something like “The Panther” materialize.
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Posts by: Alex Norcia
The Battle for Reputation
In anticipation of Zachary Leder’s upcoming biography, The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, Lee Siegel grapples with the author’s tainted and troubling reputation for Vulture.
...moreWho Still Reads Alice in Wonderland?
For the New Yorker, Anthony Lane reviews Robert Douglas Fairhurst’s The Story of Alice, tracing the cultural importance of the “peppery briskness” of Lewis Carroll’s words.
...moreVice Fiction Issue 2015
The VICE 2015 fiction issue was released online this week. It includes an interview with David Sedaris, a piece by Sarah Gerard about her crowdfunded book tour, and a short story, “The Surrogate,” by Ottessa Moshfegh.
...moreThe Well-Paid Trolls
Reporting on Russian Internet trolls for the New York Times Magazine, Adrian Chen uncovers fake art exhibitions, follows “I Am Ass” on Twitter, and talks with a neo-Nazi. He’s also followed.
...moreThe Hermits
For Lit Hub, Jonathan Russell Clark examines our fascination with reclusive writers.
...more“Friendly With” But “Never Very Close”
Reviewing Kevin M. Schultz’s Buckley and Mailer for the New Yorker, Thomas Mallon traces the relationship between the two famous writers and wits—what brought the men together, and what set them apart.
...moreAn Author Without A Critic
For the Atlantic, David Frum argues “a fair claim that” Herman Wouk is “among the greatest American war novelists of them all,” despite the positive criticism that has eluded his work.
...moreIn the Birdhouse
For the New Yorker, Kathryn Schulz profiles Nell Zink, touching on her love for birds, her complicated relationship with the publishing industry, and her “improbable literary fame.”
...moreA Treacherous Crossroads
For The Millions, Bill Morris reflects on the documentary Havana Motor Club, and his own trip to Cuba in 1998, noting how the country is now getting “ready to navigate a treacherous crossroads—the place where communism and capitalism intersect and collide.”
...moreIt’s Time to Rethink Everything
At Flavorwire, Jonathon Sturgeon presents an excerpt of Tim Parks’s new book, Where I’m Reading From: The Changing World of Books. In the excerpted section, Parks questions the simple idea of what “we want from writing.”
...moreReading Is Insane
In his column for Vice, Blake Butler explains the “three, short savage books you have to read.”
...moreBooks for All!
For the San Francisco Chronicle, Jim Kuhnhenn reports about President’s Obama’s new initiative to provide low-income students with e-books.
...moreThe Novel’s Lack of “Tension”
In the Washington Post, Hillary Kelly argues in favor of bringing back the serialized novel.
...moreBar Reading
At The Millions, Edward Mullany regimentally tries to read War and Peace. Instead, he has a conversation with a stranger at a bar.
...moreThe Reluctant Environmentalists
In an adapted excerpt from his book, All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner and the American West, over at Salon, David Gessner explains how Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey “can serve as guides” for the drought-suffering American West.
...moreWhat’s Left of the American Dream?
When it comes to literature, “has the American dream run out of road?” For the Guardian’s blog, Christopher Bollen ponders the question.
...moreDo We Need a Poet Laureate?
For Literary Hub, Nick Ripatrazone breaks down—and defends—the poet laureate.
...moreThe Millennial Generation’s Writer
In The New Republic, Anna Weiner discusses Renata Adler’s new boost in popularity among New York City’s young creative class: In the post-9/11 generation—a cohort caught between the promise of an economy that values creative work and the scarring, post-crash economic reality—[Adler] has, once again, found a small, devout audience.
...moreWhy Writers Love to Hate the MFA
Haven’t gotten enough of the MFA debate? Here’s Cecilia Capuzzi Simon in the New York Times.
...moreBuzzFeed’s Literary Future
BuzzFeed has announced an “Emerging Writers Fellowship,” to be headed-up by its new Literary Editor, Saeed Jones. Get the details in Jones’s interview with Electric Literature.
...moreProust’s Imperfections
For the New Yorker’s “Page Turner,” Adam Gopnik argues “why an imperfect version of Proust is a classic in English.”
...moreCan Writing Be Taught?
Electric Literature and Catapult.co recently announced a new series of writing workshops and classes: Our goal is to connect emerging and unpublished writers with some of the most dynamic and interesting literary writers in NYC, and create the kind of writing classes we wish we could take ourselves. James Hannaham, Sarah Gerard, and Ted Thompson […]
...moreThe Woman Who Did Not Burn Down New York
For Vice, Catherine Lacey sits down with Renata Adler to discuss Adler’s new nonfiction collection, After the Tall Timber.
...moreO Adjunct! My Adjunct!
In the New Yorker, Carmen Maria Machado writes about the poor adjunct situation throughout American universities.
...moreFanfiction in the Classroom
At The Millions, Elizabeth Minkel shares her take on fanfiction and its place within the classroom.
...moreThe Year the Future Began
Reviewing W. Joseph Campbell’s 1995: The Year the Future Began, Louis Menand explores, among other things, the different conceptions and strategies for recording history.
...moreThe Art of Interruptions
For The Millions, Steve Himmer writes about “the narrative possibilities of networked life.”
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