Other
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The Cutest Librarian
If you ask Kuzya, an assistant librarian at the State Hermitage Library in Novorossiysk, Russia, for a book recommendation, you might go home with A Tale of Two Kitties or The Brothers Kara-meow-zov. Because he is a cat. And he wears a bow-tie…
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Scurvy: The Stuff of Nightmares
If you needed something to remind you not to join any expeditions to the Arctic, this Lapham’s Quarterly piece about scurvy in sailors of centuries past should do the trick: (Trapped in the Arctic in 1832, explorer John Ross began to…
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Yes, but how do chipmunks see the world? Let’s all take a trip back to swingin’ Thailand (in film posters). This is an article about Lenin playing a theremin, but it also features a picture of proto-hipster young Stalin. It makes…
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Tom Barbash Discusses His New Book
Los Angeles readers: On September 19, recent Rumpus interviewee Tom Barbash will discuss Stay Up With Me with fellow Rumpus contributor Matthew Specktor. The stories within this collection dig into the difficulties of humans making connections with each other. A newly…
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Power to Novellas
I close the door, and in a small space, within a small page amount, I try to write stories that stretch their invisible seams. I love novellas. Rumpus contributor Nick Ripatrazone isn’t apologizing to anyone for his love of the…
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Unpublished Novels We’d Like to Read
Lit Reactor recently posted 12 unpublished novels they’d like to read. From Harper Lee to Hunter S. Thompson, we are salivating over the potential of these never released books. Even if your favorite author didn’t make the list, doesn’t it…
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Netflix of E-Books is Here, Kind Of
It looks like the Netflix of e-books might have arrived. As noted in this article on Salon, e-book readers have a few different options, but they are both still in the beta stage of development. If you’re feeling a little…
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Elissa Bassist Interviews Michelle Orange
Rumpus favorite Michelle Orange recently released a collection of essays called This Is Running for Your Life. The book features well-researched stories set in various locations throughout the world “where things break down, where life is at its limits.” In…
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A Word on Translation Notes
Sometimes reading a translated piece feels second rate. You never know what you’re missing. In the translation note before A Yi’s “Barrenland,” Eric Abrahamsen provides the history and thoughtfulness to convince you that he did the original version justice. In…
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Fantasy Football For Poets: Week 3
Why wouldn’t we have a fantasy football column on a literary website?
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
A short history of failed San Francisco urban planners. I imagine you’d like to know about the world’s largest robot. I imagine you’d like to watch a BBC documentary about the history of automatons. Why you so quiet sun? And…
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The Usefulness of Poetry
In this recent Atlantic article, Noah Berlatsky writes about the controversial statement, “Poetry is useless.” Despite what some poets believe, Noah says that the usefulness of a poem depends on what it says, not what it is. In other words,…