Mary Stewart Atwell and Alison Espach talk with short fiction guru Lydia Davis about transitioning from inventing worlds to inverting the real one; writing dream stories; and translating Madame Bovary.
Asked about his childhood religious beliefs by an interviewer, Robert Stone once said, “I was in that very difficult position you get in when you really believe in God, and at the same time you are very angry: God is this huge creature who we must know, love, and serve, though actually you feel like you want to kick the son of a bitch.” Throughout his career, Stone has drawn upon this confluence of anger and belief—and the despair that often results—to create some of his most resonant work. At their best, Stone’s portrayals of men and women guided (and […]
Check out this NPR blog post to find out who the “longest running fictional character” (in any medium) is. If you want to guess before clicking, here are Glen Weldon’s criteria: Consistent: Makes regularly scheduled appearances — no yawning gaps between adventures. Continuous: The character’s adventures form a central narrative that builds on what has gone before. (Read: Katzenjammer Kids, I know you’ve been around a long time, but you’re a gag strip, not an ongoing narrative. Thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts.) New: The constant churning out of fresh content, not simply adaptations, retellings or reprints. […]
Mary Stewart Atwell and Alison Espach talk with short fiction guru Lydia Davis about transitioning from inventing worlds to inverting the real one; writing dream stories; and translating Madame Bovary. To read the interview, “Little Plots of Real Life,” click here.
Earlier this month Waccamaw launched its Spring 2009 Issue. This is the third volume of the online literary journal published at Coastal Carolina University. The mission of the journal is to combine the rigorous quality and attention to detail of print journals with the reach and distribution of the Internet. And this attention to detail is visible not only in the quality of the authors being published here, but also little things like font choices (Georgia) and the off-white background that gives the illusion of reading from a “page.” The journal even has an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) and […]
Julian Mazor’s wonderful, unsung second collection of stories, Friend of Mankind published in 2004, thirty-six years after his first. Mazor’s elegant language evokes settings that are simultaneously a backdrop for and a mirror of his characters’ inner lives, and his compassion for these characters is almost physical. Click here to read the full review by Helen Mallon.
Julian Mazor’s wonderful, unsung second collection of stories, Friend of Mankind, published in 2004, thirty-six years after his first. Mazor’s elegant language evokes settings that are simultaneously a backdrop for and a mirror of his characters’ inner lives, and his compassion for these characters is almost physical.
I’ll be on a plane to San Francisco, but if you’ll be in NYC tonight, head to BAR on A – 170 Avenue A @ 11th – at 7:30 PM to see FWR contributor and fictiontastic writer Lee Goldberg read with Meakin Armstrong and Deenah Vollmeras part of the Guerrilla Lit Reading Series. From anywhere, you can follow Guerrilla Lit on Twitter: http://twitter.com/guerrillalit. About the Writers* Lee Goldberg teaches Literature and Composition at LaGuardia Community College. He has an MFA from New School University and is a founding member of the Guerrilla Lit Reading Series. He is currently working on […]
There’s an old adage in these parts: If you don’t like the weather in Michigan, wait five minutes. This was certainly true to form the last several days here at the Ann Arbor Book Festival. Friday dawned beautiful, cloudless and warm. Yet by the cocktail hour the sky was spitting and sputtering. Saturday, too, threatened rain. But other than a few windy gusts that lifted the tents on the Ingalls Mall, the weather held. In fact, by mid afternoon that second day the clouds had gone. And the only rain we received was through the night—the literary Gods were smiling. […]
Brian Bartels sits down with Adam Rapp–prolific playwright, musician, director, and novelist–to talk about his latest book, Punkzilla, and the mysterious process by which the words we create are shaped by music. Click here to read the whole interview-essay, “Shadow Sounds: Music as Character.”
