Updike, Ms. Beattie, and Me
Joshua Bodwell on the stories we tell, literary coincidences, and a correction to Best American Short Stories of the Century (with footnotes).
Joshua Bodwell on the stories we tell, literary coincidences, and a correction to Best American Short Stories of the Century (with footnotes).
“Today, when I skim that first baker’s dozen I made a decade ago, my heart begins to race at the mere sight of some of the titles”: Joshua Bodwell offers his favorite reads during 2019 on the ten-year anniversary of his original “Baker’s Dozen” list.
On our delayed discovery of Lucia Berlin and what we miss when we miss independent presses.
Maile Meloy in an interview From the Archives: “I think you have to find an emotional connection to the story, to make anyone else care about it, but I would find writing only what I know to be limiting.”
Joshua Bodwell celebrates Black Sparrow Press’s fiftieth anniversary as a trade publisher—with five footnotes, one for each decade.
“The narrator’s voice is earnest and haunted”: Joshua Bodwell on why he loves Andrew Porter’s “River Dog.”
Joshua Bodwell shares about the lasting impact Tom Perrotta’s “The Weiner Man” has made on him.
Patrick Ryan on the pitfalls of penning a period piece, the interesting part of writing villains, and the joys and anxieties of editing Alice Munro and Joy Williams
“…there’s always something more you can take out…”: Jim Nichols with Joshua Bodwell on his influences, Maine, and his new book, Closer All the Time.
“Above all, it must be compelling,” James Salter told the Paris Review in 1993 when asked about his idea of the short story. “You’re sitting around the campfire of literature, so to speak, and various voices speak up out of the dark and begin talking. With some, your mind wanders or you doze off, but with others you are held by every word. The first line, the first sentence, the first paragraph, all have to compel you.” Long before I ever read those remarks by Salter, I’d already come under the influence of his short stories and, in particular, his […]
