An Appreciation of John Hawkes
“But What I Really Love About This Is This Amazing Game That You’ve Invented”
Features & Reviews
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Depression May Be Beneficial (For Writers)
“Yet some scientists are suggesting that depression — peculiarly prevalent for a mental disorder — is not a malfunction at all, but an evolutionary adaptation, a state of mind which…
When a Writer Becomes an Adjective
Kafka. Joyce. Woolf. Dickens. Nabokov. All of these writers have become adjectives. (Arguably, “Kafkaesque” is the most overused one of the mix. And “Nabokovian” the least-earned moniker.) Just last April,…
Rene Daumal at Parabola
I spend a lot of my time rediscovering things. It’s a nifty, almost unconscious trick. All it necessitates is wandering through a landscape, engaging with reality and picking up on…
Bicycle Byrne
David Byrne talks with USA Today about his latest book, Bicycle Diaries, which is described as “a political and philosophical travelogue tied together by Byrne’s bike rides in cities, from…
The Ultimate Gateway Drug to Life on the Right
At the New Republic, there’s an amazing review of a new Ayn Rand biography by Jonathan Chait that actually explains everything you need to know about the American right. An…
Significant Objects
Significant Objects marries writing with eBay. For example, Rumpus editor Stephen Elliott describes his Hawaiian Utensils here. And you can bid on them here. All the money goes to the…
Eisie Shoots Papa
“In 1952, LIFE sent legendary photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt to Cuba to shoot author Ernest Hemingway. The magazine needed photos to run alongside a new novella that would run in LIFE…
Life Underwater
The heroine of Nicola Keegan’s debut novel is an Olympic athlete who tries to swim against the current of her tragic family life.
Out of Exile
Today we have an interview with Craig Walzer, editor of the Voice of Witness book Out of Exile: Narratives From the Abducted and Displaced People of Sudan. Craig discusses how…
I Just Want to See It Through: A Full Story from Out of Exile
Alweel’s smile shone and her voice chirped Arabic as she told her story deliberately and in deep detail. We took breaks for chocolate and tea after difficult episodes. It took…