A Year in Rumpus Book Reviews
A look back at the books we’ve reviewed in 2019!
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Posts Tagged: Jesse Ball
The Violence of Forgetting: The Divers’ Game by Jesse Ball
His is not a language that trivializes violence; it’s a language that exposes it.
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Idra Novey
Idra Novey discusses THOSE WHO KNEW.
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Jesse Ball
Jesse Ball discusses his new novel, Census, the inherent sinister nature of institutions, and creating imaginary authors.
...moreNotable NYC: 3/3–3/9
Literary events and readings in and around New York City this week!
...moreWhat We’re Reading in February!
Find out what The Rumpus Book Club is reading in February!
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What to Read When 2018 Is Just Around the Corner
While we can’t promise that 2018 won’t find us facing more political upheaval, we can assure you that there will be great literature to offer moments of escape and inspiration.
...moreNotable Los Angeles: 10/30–11/5
Literary events and readings in and around L.A. this week!
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #57: Jesse Ball
It can be hard to describe a Jesse Ball novel. They’re willfully strange, dark and puzzling, but the pieces aren’t always designed to fit together. Instead, each of his books, which are always written in the first person, have a tendency to take the reader into the heads of the lead characters, which is often […]
...moreIn Conversation with Jesse Ball
There are two things in writing: one is to say something with the form of what you’re saying, and the other is to say something with the content of what you are saying. … I think content is not completely arbitrary, but to a certain degree, it doesn’t always matter. If you really adore the […]
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How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball
Kaj Tanaka reviews How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball today in Rumpus Books.
...moreAn Interview Goes Both Ways
An unorthodox conversation, or experimental, two-way interview between Jesse Ball and Catherine Lacey at BOMB yields miscommunication, communication, repetition, randomness, push, pull, aphorism, and wisdom. On reading contemporary literature, Ball says: There’s something pernicious about work that is from your specific time because of all the prejudices that are invisible at this moment… I think we’re […]
...moreThis Week in Short Fiction
One of this year’s highly anticipated new novels is Jesse Ball’s How to Set a Fire and Why, forthcoming from Pantheon in July, about an intelligent and troubled teenage girl who takes an interest in arson. A standalone excerpt in Granta this week, titled “Lucia Series,” gives us a small taste that involves no fire, […]
...moreGreatest Hits of the Heart
Patience. Curiosity. Repetition. Looking again and again. Not imposing a story line. Letting composition emerge through pattern, rhythm, shape, sound, movement. Occasionally … you hit upon a moment of grace. You can’t plan for it. You just have to practice enough so that you’re ready when it comes. The Atlantic has compiled a list of […]
...moreSweet Deal!
Rumpus readers are getting a sweet deal! The good folks over at Litquake are hosting an event on July 10th called the New Literary Vanguard, in which they will “delve into the minds of the new generation of American male novelists,” namely Jesse Ball (who is reading at our next monthly event!), Adam Levin and […]
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