Posts by author
Michael Berger
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Staying Alive as a Poet, Artist, Etc.
“Sometimes it seems as though poets, in particular, move in an endangered artistic world. Think Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, Anne Sexton. And, last month, Rachel Wetzsteon, an accomplished poet who took her own life at age 42.” Jacket Copy last…
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A Bosnian Novelist And An Irish Novelist Walk Into A Bar
If you have any doubts about the power of the novel, or its lasting cultural significance, or its transcendent ability to deepen and enrich our chaotic earthly experiences, look no further than this impassioned conversation at The Believer between two…
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Rebecca Solnit On Looting
“And in disaster after disaster, at least since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, those in power, those with guns and the force of law behind them, are too often more concerned for property than human life. In an emergency,…
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On the Superiority of James Salter
“The first time I read A Sport and a Pastime, just two years ago, I knew I’d experienced something unusual, alive, difficult in its directness; not something to look upon “fondly,” but a story that, like all great art, connected…
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The Bravery Of Uncertainty
“When you’re not religious, sacredness means something that fills you with awe. The creation of something awe-striking requires a pure offering, an opening up to the universe. It’s not always an act of risk, that could land you “in the…
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Grief And Hamlet
“My grief has been all the usual and varied colours of sadness and madness. It has been searing, voluptuous, numbing. I foresaw that it would be — I have been unhappy, unsettled, unbalanced before (who has not?). I did not…
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Write That Damn Novel
I don’t know about you but this is the year I finish that @#$#@%! novel. I got two hundred pages of rough stuff. Real rough stuff. The first novel. The one I’m allowed to be cavalier about, right? The one…
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A Funny Book About Genocide
“I’d been thinking about writing a book on genocide for some time, but the project really kicked off about a year-and-a-half ago, around the time my wife told me she was pregnant with our second child. Naturally, I thought about…
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Things To Look Forward To In 2010
“The Notebook is the collected entries from 87-year-old Saramago’s blog, O Caderno de Saramago. The book, ‘which has already appeared in Portuguese and Spanish, lashes out against George W. Bush, Tony Blair, the Pope, Israel and Wall Street,’ according to…
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The Sunday Book Blog Roundup
With so many shopping days left until whenever, there is no end to the amount of printed matter out there that is riveting, ravishing and ultimately rewarding. The book blogs are overwhelming to someone like me who wants to read…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Review Supplement
Good morning my fellow Rumpusians, as Christmas steadily approaches and the panic to procure becomes almost reptilian, I can honestly say I’ve never handled so many one hundred dollar bills. Are there that many people out there with so much…