Rumpus Originals
-

The Great American Novel in Miniature
Lurking beneath the dazzling political and pop-culture fireworks of Benjamin Taylor’s second novel, The Book of Getting Even, is a vivid tale of American displacement and discovery that could be called a contemporary classic but for one thing: It’s only…
-

One Last Dan Baum Article: Sean Carman Imitates Dan Baum
If you’re not familiar with Dan Baum’s story, start here.
-

The Rumpus Interview with Carlos Cuarón
During an assembly-line interview process last week, I sat with writer and director Carlos Cuarón to talk about his new film, Rudo y Cursi. We met up at a self-described rock-and-roll hotel suite in downtown San Francisco. With his rat’s…
-

Maps and Legends
“Do you ever get the feeling like you already know the entire contents of the universe somewhere in your head… and you are just spending your entire life figuring out how to access this map?” — The Selected Works of…
-

To Sit, to Stand, to Write
Ever since Nietzsche’s declaration, there has been some disagreement among writers, thinkers, doctors, and designers as to whether inspiration and creativity come from being seated and quiescent, or from being upright and vigorous.
-

No Contact, Asshole!
The summer of 1990 was a bad one. It should have been a good one but it was a bad one. I’ve pulled a lot of stunts in my day, mostly of the sick sexual variety, but that summer I…
-

The Rumpus Interview with Philippe Lioret
No one ever asks, after watching a love story, whether it succeeded in raising our awareness of the lovers’ plight.
-

The Rumpus Interview with Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham is a 22-year-old filmmaker born and raised in Manhattan under the wing of parents who are both artists and who support her endeavors like they are their own (Dunhan his currently co-writing a screenplay with her mother).
-

Verbophobia: About the Phobias in Roberto Bolaño’s 2666
“An oasis of horror in a desert of boredom,” by Charles Baudelaire, 2666’s epigram
-

MANGIA MANGA
Since its 1983 debut as a weekly serial, Oishinbo has sold over 100 million paperback editions in Japan. Yet while Oishinbo is undeniably the granddaddy of food-themed manga I’ve discovered many fine examples of the genre. Below are synopses of…