What We Talk About When We Talk About What We Miss
by Joshua Bodwell
From the Archives: On our delayed discovery of Lucia Berlin and what we miss when we miss independent presses.
From the Archives: On our delayed discovery of Lucia Berlin and what we miss when we miss independent presses.
From the Archives: “Farrar, Straus and Giroux published Welcome Home alongside a new collection of Lucia Berlin’s short stories, Evening in Paradise, on the same day as the midterm elections last week. A knowing wink from the publisher to the politics that these books contain? Perhaps.”
“Sometimes I read pronouncements on Twitter like, ‘Let’s face it, there’s no reason a book should ever be 500 pages long,’ and I always think, of course there should be 500-page books. And fifteen-page books. There should be every kind of book.” Jenny Shank talks with Paula Younger about her new collection.
“That moment when we realize our parents are people, regular people, with flaws and separate lives we have no access to. Brought home, made palpable for the reader, in that little clattering spoon”: Kent Kosack on Lucia Berlin’s coming-of-age story “Itinerary.”
“A close examination of economy and endings in this collection reveals several craft choices made by the author that consistently bolster efficiency and surprise.”
