Rumpus Originals
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Afghan Star: A Conversation with Tamim Ansary
Pop Idol has been widely imitated throughout the world [American Idol here in the states] , but Afghanistan is possibly the only place where the mere existence of a televised, Western-style talent show amounts to a political statement.
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A History of Violence
In After the Fire a Small Still Voice, love is a difficult, vulnerable salvation—its troubled characters aren’t sure it’s worth the risk.
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The Rumpus Interview With John Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone
The world is just going to continue to fragment, and that’s a great thing. We’ll be fine. Tiny Telephone will be fine.
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Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys
“There’s something unique about being a member of the sex worker club, an instant camaraderie that bonds one to people who would otherwise be strangers, and this chemistry is something of which Sterry can’t get enough.”
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The Importance of Being Still: The Rumpus Interview With Charles Baxter
In his essay, Baxter discusses the degree to which Americans “have distrusted silence and its parent condition, stillness.”
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How to Leave Hialeah
“Crucet is endowed with the double vision that helped Richard Wright and Salman Rushdie describe the lives of marginalized people with poignancy, humor, and rich music.”
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Poetics and Slaughter
2005 saw the seventieth anniversary of the birth of Danilo Kiš. He died of lung cancer in 1989.
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The Rumpus Shorty Q & A with Jeffrey Lewis
So why does Eric Clapton sell a lot more records than Daniel Johnston?
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Gidget On the Couch
“The thing to remember is that, since 1957, surfing as something you buy has overshadowed surfing as something you do.” An exclusive excerpt on the origins of surfing from the best of the Believer essays, Read Hard.