LONELY VOICE #18: Kafka the Dad (Part Three of Five Stray Thoughts on Kafka)
In an essay called “The I Without a Self,” W.H. Auden tells us about a rumor “which if true might have occurred in a Kafka story.” That is that Kafka,…
Rumpus Original
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Friendship Addiction
“Friends? Who needs them?” said a Korean friend of mine. “I don’t make friends. I have a wife and a child, that’s enough social life for me.” I was surprised…
A Square Grows Gloomy
Especially for a reader coming to Trakl for the first time, Firmage’s accessible introduction and organization of the poems provide an excellent overview of Trakl’s development as a poet and…
What You Lost Is What Everyone Lost
Often, in contemporary literature, grief becomes clichéd; O’Rourke, however, avoids sappiness or melodrama. Instead, her poetry probes at the actualization of grief, revealing a startling emotional depth.
“That Old Desire,” a Rumpus Original Poem by Meghan O’Rourke
That Old Desire Was a fire licking and hot, a red fur with blue trim, like an Elizabethan ruff, if a ruff could be made
The Rumpus Interview with Adam Johnson
When I saw Stephen Elliott call The Orphan Master’s Son “the best novel I’ve read in forever,” in one of his Daily Rumpus emails I knew I had to interview Adam Johnson…
The Secret About
Last weekend I rode the subway towards two indulgent firsts: I spent half of my latest paycheck in a swanky, mirror-lined restaurant with a coat check, and then I walked…
The Rumpus Interview with Philipp Wolter and Michelle Glick
Meet Philipp Wolter and Michelle Glick, the husband and wife team behind the Brooklyn-born FilmGym Productions. Wanting to merge their love of acting with their dreams of creating introspective films…
Want No More
In a complex story about two anitpodal women, Deborah Scroggins delivers answers in Wanted Women: Faith, Lies & the War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali & Aafia…
The Rumpus Review of Haywire
The finest moment in Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire isn’t one of its pyrotechnic fight scenes; it’s a facial expression. Shock hopscotches into fear before easing into awe as John Kane (Bill…
Thorns In Our Hair, But Never a Shroud
Used well, the collective perspective affords the poet a wider voice, a surer sense. The reader feels present in these moments of ruin, trusting even the more fantastical occurrences.
SELF-MADE MAN #4: On Violence
I’m on the phone with my brother for the first time in months and my voice is deeper than he expected.