Posts by author
The Rumpus
-
Feel Validated, Artists
The biggest myth we are fed as artists is that we need to sustain ourselves solely on our art. This is ridiculous. Every artist has at some point in time had some other job. Some of them kept these jobs…
-
Writing “the very stuff of life”
Today in unusual writing jobs: an inside look at what it’s like to be an obituary news writer for the New York Times. Each day, it is our job to come to know such strangers intimately, inhaling their lives through…
-
The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Generation X
The Muppets taught us to think for ourselves, innovate, follow our dreams and make the world a better place. Head over to Salon to learn how the Muppets helped shape a generation of artists and businesspeople, and taught 50 million…
-
The Music Behind the Poems
Poetry and music share a word of process — composition — and are linked by negotiations of melody, harmony, rhythm, proportion, and discord. While some poets require silence to compose, many others find that listening to music and writing go…
-
New Readers Report Theme: “Missed Connections”
We’re hungry for more writing from Rumpus readers, so we’re now accepting submissions for our next Readers Report! This time, we want you to tackle the theme “Missed Connections.” Please send your submissions, maximum 400 words, to Susan Clements, silentjoy2001 AT…
-
UMass Amherst Celebrates 50 Years of MFA Writing!
Online literary magazine Route Nine released a special alumni issue to celebrate the UMass Amherst MFA for Poets & Writers’s 50th Anniversary. Route Nine is edited by Rumpus Tumblr editor Molly McArdle. In addition, the W. E. B. Du Bois Library inaugurated an MFA Special…
-
A 21st Century Kind of Poet
At The Millions, Michael Bourne writes about the stunning success of poet Tess Taylor’s debut collection, The Forage House, and technology’s hand in making it happen: When writers talk about literature in the digital age, they tend to lay out one…
-
Weekly Rumpus Fiction: Sonja Vitow
The next Weekly Rumpus features fiction from Sonja Vitow. Here’s an excerpt: It used to bother me and Connor a little that Rachel kept the photos from the wallets we stole. At the end of the day I don’t particularly want…
-
Money Problems
Reading, writing and thinking are all tasks that are nearly impossible to cultivate while performing manual labor. As Plato first noted, when discussing education, “sleep and exercise are unpropitious to learning,” and therefore students should avoid intense exercise as they…
-
The Works Behind the Work
Over at the New Yorker, Meg Wolitzer writes about the cultural influences that helped inform her novel The Interestings. They include Archie comics, folk music, and Michael Apted’s “Up” films”: A good chunk of what you need to know about the characters…
-
The Elusive Happy Ending
Happy endings are hard to come by in great literature, especially in stories that center on affluent American suburbs and their inhabitants. Over at the Atlantic, writer Ted Thompson looks at the hopeful and redemptive (but still believable) dramatic climax…