Rumpus Originals
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Not-So-Ancient History
A first novel set in modern Zimbabwe begins: “Two days after I turned fourteen the son of our neighbor set his stepmother alight.”
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The Rumpus Interview with Alasdair Gray
Writer and artist Alasdair Gray is his own best nightmare. It took the modern Scottish bard twenty-five years to finish Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981), his fat, strangely inspirational novel of urbanism gone awry.
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Steve Almond’s Bad Poetry Corner #5: Trained
(Writing wretched verse so you don’t have to since 1995) Trained You will ask why I never tore her down with my famous claws and arrowed jaws why instead I sat about, moewed, and on occasion lept through fire.
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The Rumpus Review of A Serious Man
What is it with the Coen brothers, technical masters who tend to use their skills for no meaningful purpose?
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The Rumpus Review of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
My boyfriend insisted I read Brief Interviews with Hideous Men when we started dating. “It will help you understand the way men think!” he exclaimed. Secrets of those bearing a Y chromosome would be revealed, he promised; David Foster Wallace…
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The Random Rumpus Interview with Todd Barry
There’s an ice cream truck near my apartment that sells cinnamon ice cream. I haven’t tried it yet; but when I do, I think it’s going to be my favorite.
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A FAN’S NOTES, The Rumpus Sports Column #16: Wildcat, Baby
This past week’s pro football storylines were, in a word, beautiful. First of all, before the games even began, there was the matter of Rush Limbaugh wanting to become an owner of the St. Louis Rams. The Rams totally suck…
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The Facts About John Cheever
The publication of a great writer’s collected works should be a cause for celebration, and or at least a measured reassessment. How disturbing, then, that the Library of America’s two-volume publication of John Cheever’s stories and novels has also been…
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TRUTH SERUM:
Defriendship (Part 1)Bay Area residents, come meet Jon Adams at the Alternative Press Expo this weekend (17th-18th). Or wait at home for him to come visit you. It will probably be while you sleep, but don’t worry – he’ll take pictures.
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You Caught Me
Tao Lin’s characters are constantly connected, yet physically detached. The technology they live and breathe often seems less mechanical than its users.