Other
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Cliché Shaming
At The Guardian poets reveal “the expressions that have become such cliches that they have lost all meaning.” Explanations included. “Devastated” (and its variations) is a repeat winner. Is that more of a British thing? Also: “Britain is leading the…
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Experimental Literature
Dennis Cooper answers five questions on experimental literature yesterday at HTML giant. The author is asked about the body, politics, economics and race. He also suggests a hefty dose of works to check out. On the unique “use value” of…
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Dear Sugar Will Be Back Tomorrow!
Everybody! This is the time of the week where you’re probably itching in anticipation for your Sugar fix, but we are asking you to hold off one more day. Sugar will be back tomorrow to supply you with your weekly…
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Celebrating 75 Years of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, which we are excited to participate in! The Rumpus will be featuring essays from Iowa alumni in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for those and stay updated…
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Accidental Political Poets
Poetry is the literary art form that can most readily adapt the grammatically-fraught, political commentaries of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, apparently. Michael Solomon compiled and edited a bunch of Sarah Palin-isms in I Hope Like Heck: The Selected Poems…
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Chinese Political Prisoners and “Confessing”
“Chinese confessions are as much a ritual as the kowtow, the ‘three kneelings and the nine prostrations,’ of dynastic times. Foreign journalists are occasionally compelled to make such confessions, although they are in far less danger than Chinese dissidents. At…
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Goodbye Oxford Comma
A University of Oxford Style Guide has decided to go minimalist on all the grammarians and drop the oxford comma. They’re making big decisions over there. Watch out: ‘“As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma: so write…
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Readin Not Schemin
No need to worry, everybody! Ponzi schemer extraordinaire, Bernie Madoff, is doing totally fine in prison. He’s been reading a bunch! James Michener novels, to be specific. Will books enrich him with a newfound sense of moral integrity? Probably not…
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Kafka-ish
Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is being adapted into a “fresh modern horror” film of the same name. Shooting for the movie is beginning next month, but these things are already true: the traveling salesman Gregor Samsa will be a high-school teenager…
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Hey dudes, don’t give monkeys your food. Dorothy Parker’s writer’s block in telegraph form. I am a big fan of re-purposed factories. This is a fact. Have you guys seen the new Canadian money? Effective library displays!
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Next Up in the Tradition of Sadomasochistic Erotic Literature: Ariel Sands
Ariel Sands, the pseudonym of an internationally known nonfiction writer, is now exploring the fictional domain. Her first novel, Never the Face: A Story of Desire, explores sadomasochistic obsession through a sexually graphic narrative. Read what the author has to…
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Struggling Poet? No Worries, There’s An App For That.
There are now approximately 718 different apps–“PortaPoet”, “Erotic Poems” or “Prose for Bros” just to name a couple– that come up when you search “poetry” on iTunes’ App Store. Nick Laird examines how the fundamental nature of poetry is affected…