July 2010
84 posts
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“beware of the love of women; beware of that ecstasy - that slow poison.”
– Ivan Turgenev, First Love
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THE BLURB #18: The Long Haul →
An amazing piece on writing by Stacey Derasmo (from The Rumpus). I’ve read this a few times now, and it keeps getting better. Writing is a horrible bitch goddess, but there’s so, so much good there. Settle in with a cup of coffee this weekend and read:
“Does this sound harsh? Did you think I was going to say that the secret to the long haul is a loving partner, a great agent, a...
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What's The Story? Writers Reveal Why They Write →
I’m always interested in hearing why other writers write. I never know how to answer the question, other than to say: if I wasn’t writing, what the hell would I do?
ZZ Packer has a more eloquent answer:
Short-fiction writer ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, has a nuanced answer to the question of why she writes.
“I think when we engage in language we are...
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In Praise of Precocious Narrators →
From Anne Shulock, writing for The Millions, comes a piece about our love/hate relationship with those oh-so-brilliant young narrators:
“In an age of shortening attention spans and the glorification of stupidity, I find it comforting and exciting to spend time with young characters for whom books, maps, notebooks, letters, research, drawings, imagined inventions and classic films are...
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The Nonpersistence of...What's That Remembering... →
Anthony Doerr’s new short story collection, Memory Wall, is out. Go get it. Right now.
(From Paper Cuts: “Living With Music: A Playlist by Anthony Doerr”)
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The Greatest Opening Lines in Western Literature:...
After I posted an article listing the greatest twenty-five openings in literature, Canadian Jay became outraged; I woke in the night to find him standing over my bed, staring down at me, for almost an hour. How dare you, he said, leave out the opening to my novel. I trembled in fear as he manically thumbed through his manuscript, placing a page on me like a blanket. He stroked my hair and laughed,...
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To Teach a Kid How to Read, Teach a Kid How to... →
From The Millions, and Kevin Hartnett:
“If you have not been paying attention to trends in grade school pedagogy over the last couple decades, the first thing you should know is this: The way public school students—and particularly those in low-performing, low-income districts—are taught to understand books looks little like the way most readers of this site, myself included, probably...
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The Dredgeman's Revelation, by Karen Russell →
The Story of the Day feature has taken some time off, much to my dismay. Alas, it returns on this sunny Wednesday, with Karen Russell’s new short story in The New Yorker. Russell, whose debut collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves is one of the best collections in years, has her first novel, Swamplandia!, coming next year from Random House. For now, enjoy this new story...
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Postscript to Word Space (18): Andrew Ervin →
A great profile from Blake Butler of Andrew Ervin, author of the collection, Extraordinary Renditions (coming soon from Coffee House Press), which was recently named PW’s “Pick of the Week.” Rock stardom surely awaits.
(Thanks to Ervin’s friend, Nick Mainieri, for bringing this to my attention.)
(Update: Some more Ervin love.)
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“My passion amused her. She made fun of me, played with me, and tormented me. It...”
– Ivan Turgenev, First Love
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Since It's Tuesday...
…stop by and say hello. I promise to blow you a kiss, or offer up an air-high-five, wherever you are.
You’re swell.
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Ron Currie, Jr.: Things I Learned While Writing →
An insightful look at what it can mean to be a writer:
“I learned that writing is not therapy, but that, like a lot of honest work, it can be an effective distraction when you’re faced with terrible unfathomable circumstances poking you all over every waking moment, and haunting your dreams each night.”
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Ian McEwan on creative writing courses →
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Here & There: Fly-Over State of Mind →
Because I love American Short Fiction, as well as Emma Straub’s Fly-Over State.
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“New York was bad in the heart of the summer - that was true.”
– Emma Straub, “Hot Springs Eternal”
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A Brief Survey of the Short Story →
From Chris Power, of the Guardian Books Blog, comes a wonderful look at short story masters through the ages. If you love short stories, this ongoing series is one for you.
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“There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand.”
– Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
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Words to live by: advice from 34 science... →
From io9: advice for your Sunday morning. Enjoy this with a delightful cup of coffee.
Going Rogue →
Steve Almond, writing for The Rumpus, takes some umbrage to The New York Times Book Review’s “trashing” his new book, Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life; at the same time, as always, Almond manages to teach me something about writing:
“So, yeah, it’s okay to get pissed, maybe even inevitable. But we must not stop learning as writers. Even our least sympathetic reader has...
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Ten of the best nameless protagonists in... →
From the Guardian’s John Mullan, an interesting look at the power of anonymity in literature.
My favorite from this list? Here:
“The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Greene liked to find unusual names – Bendrix, Querry – for his protagonists, so his refusal to name the alcoholic Mexican priest on the run from the anti-clerical authorities is significant. The...
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The 25 Best Opening Lines in Western Literature →
Brought to my attention by friend and writer I Eat My Pigeon.
My favorite from this list? Here:
“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.” -Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
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Where I Left Off
I passed a woman on the street who resembled you, wore your dress. The green one, from Calypso. She carried her shoulders in the same manner, as if some secret weight pulled her from side to side. I nearly missed it, but I was sure she smiled, subtly, as our bodies occupied the same square of broken sidewalk. I heard your voice then, the words that day at Alice’s, over rooibos. You...
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“Where the hell is my inner soul?”
– Sam Lipsyte, “My Life, for Promotional Use Only”
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Brisket, by Stuart Dybek →
I won’t say much (because Dybek doesn’t need much of an intro), other than today’s SoTD is sure to make you hungry. Stuart Dybek’s writing is at its sharpest here (and here), in a piece published in SmokeLong Quarterly (originally in Alaska Quarterly Review):
“There was corned beef, kosher franks, dangling salamis, tukus, and two kinds of knishes—thin kasha and...
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“Now that we’d left New York, we were already floating in space, tethered...”
– Emma Straub, “fly-over state”
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The Healthy Animal Moves Towards Pleasure, by Adam... →
Today’s Story of the Day comes from Adam Bonislawski, also known as “The Ass,” archenemy of Canadian Jay. Not only will you enjoy this story, but you, like me, should revel in the annoyance this will cause our ranting friend from up north.
This story originally appeared in The L Magazine:
“He had been a concession. An absurd but briefly necessary concession. Signaling too...
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Tumblr Tuesday is a dream within a dream
Take your dreams to the third level and recommend fwriction on this delightful Tuesday. Avoid the basement, though, please, for your own benefit.
You all make me smile.
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The Play of Madoff, Without Wiesel →
Deborah Margolin’s new play explores when literature, writers, Ponzi schemes, and the stage collide.
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William Faulkner Goes Online, 50 Years Later →
Love me some Faulkner.
From NPR:
In the late 1950s, English students at the University of Virginia got the opportunity that most American literature scholars would kill for — to speak with William Faulkner.
Faulkner spent two years as the writer-in-residence at UVA, where he gave lectures and readings and took questions from students. The lectures were recorded on reel-to-reel tapes, which...
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“And he saw something more: as he watched, the sheet of paper moved in the...”
– Primo Levi, “The Fugitive”
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Office Girl, by Joe Meno →
Joe Meno’s unique writing style, coupled with his realistic, yet wholly strange characters, make for a fascinating and entertaining read, in my opinion. I hope you enjoy today’s Story of the Day, as well as other work by Joe Meno. This story was originally published in a fwriction favorite, Annalemma:
The office girl and you are the only third-shift phone operators for a very small...
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Twitter's #dearpublisher hashtag takes off →
From the Guardian Books Blog, an interesting look at a potential new Twitter resource:
Twitter is not to everyone’s taste – it’s no secret that many readers of this blog suspect that the Guardian gives the microblogging service far more attention than it deserves and might agree with Oyl Miller’s stream of consciousness piece in McSweeney’s this week that begins:...
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The Rumpus Interview With David Means →
A great interview with David Means, regarding his new collection, The Spot:
They are deeply personal, and I think they’re plausible. Flannery O’Connor said—and I’m just going to go ahead and quote her—that “The writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live, and so far as he is concerned, a living deformed character is acceptable and a dead whole one is...
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It's Warm and Sometimes Not On the N Train
An older man sat across from me. I stood, because the air conditioning only helped when I positioned myself just beneath it. The older man wore a midnight blue T-shirt, with the word “Certified” printed in white lettering above his heart. His silver hair fell to his shoulders and glistened a bit under the artificial lights.
Though I didn’t normally instigate conversations with...
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Last Night
I dreamt Cormac McCarthy was my psychiatrist.
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Happy Bastille Day! →
In celebration of Bastille Day, when France stormed the infamous Parisian jail and began its revolution, the Guardian presents a “Bastille in Literature” quiz. Amusez-vous!
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“Lila thought this might bring them closer, but instead it left a sort of wall...”
– Belle Boggs, “Opportunity”
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Bobby Kennedy and His Sea Lion Sandy, by Anthony... →
Today’s SoTD comes from Quick Fiction, a wonderful literary journal publishing “precious little fictions in 500 words (or less).” The author of “Bobby Kennedy…,” Anthony Luebbert, runs the litblog Monkfish Jowls, which you should also check out. Enjoy the story:
“You peed in the pool, didn’t you?”
Sandy shrugged. What was I to do.
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Karen Russell’s St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised... →
Read this collection (and this blog.) Both are excellent:
While Russell has been overwhelmingly praised for her debut, a few have voiced complaints regarding the sophistated language employed by her young protagonists. (One twelve-year-old narrator thinks, ”I don’t cotton to this sophist logic.”) The stories are often told with the immediacy of a present tense, first-person point of view, yet the...
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Colonoscopy: It’s Time to Check Your Colons →
From The Millions, a brilliant look at colon use:
Colons, once on life support, are proliferating.
Why?
Because these aren’t Ms. Truss’s colons. The colons of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, are brittle, dusty, soporific. “Prepare yourself,” they yawn, “that I may shortly provide you a list.” To actually call these colons by name (syntactical-deductive, appositive, etc.) is to virtually lose...
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It's Tumblr Tuesday!
You know you want to.
Love,
DG
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Required Reading: 10 Women Writers We Love →
From the folks at Flavorwire - a great mix of writers, most notably Sloane Crosley, Miranda July, and Aimee Bender. Enjoy!
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“‘Talk,’ Neil said. ‘When did I ever say talk solved anything?...”
– Ann Beattie, Walks With Men
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Jonas, by Belle Boggs →
I am currently reading Belle Boggs’s short story collection, Mattaponi Queen, and I admit that I’m enjoying it with fervor. Recently shortlisted for the 2010 Cork City - Frank O’Connor Short Story Award, the collection has such a unique voice and energy. Today’s Story of the Day, “Jonas,” was originally published in Five Chapters. Happy Monday, and enjoy:
...
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Dead for a Century, Twain Says What He Meant →
It’s about time. With Mark Twain’s unexpurgated autobiography, we finally get some new work from the man. Way to keep us waiting, Sam:
“Wry and cranky, droll and cantankerous — that’s the Mark Twain we think we know, thanks to reading Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in high school. But in his unexpurgated autobiography, whose first volume is about to be published a century after his...
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“There was a pack of cigarettes next to her. I looked at the package. It might as...”
– Ann Beattie, Walks With Men
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Through the Drinking Glass, by Mad Hops
In the greatest crossover since Spiderman teamed up with the cast of Saturday Night Live, fwriction is joining forces with Beer Goggins, a New York City blog focusing on local craft beer and all-around drinking awesomeness.
Mad Hops, one-half of the Beer Goggins team, has crafted a work of fiction that combines a love of writing with a devotion to fine beer drinking. It’s trippy and...
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Shortlist for the 2010 Cork City - Frank O'Connor... →
Congrats to all the writers!