Introduction
Introduction/Mission Statement“It’s not what happens to people on the page; it’s about what happens to a reader in his heart and mind.” Gordon LishMy concerns here are primarily selfish. I’ll be the...
View ArticleGary Lutz
Gary LutzI don’t even know where to begin with Gary. The first compulsion is to extract his verbs. To pluck his choices and wranglings from the bed of their sentences, establish them in separate...
View Article‘Shit’ by Gordon Lish from Mourner at the Door
When I was young, the main bathroom of our house had this wallpaper decorated with large archaic sea-faring vessels. The design was executed in billions of tiny, thin lines, and while there were many...
View ArticleDepositories
Alas, I am moving. Placing my items in boxes, stacking these boxes on top of one another, finding my body pummeled, disconcerted by the different paths it must take to maneuver among the boxes. As of...
View ArticleA Position of Great Discomfort: ‘Killing Cats’ by Brian Evenson and ‘The Kind...
I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve been reading John Gardner’s ‘The Art of Fiction’ and it has me depressed. Despondent, slunking in my chair with a bad attitude and snarly teenage frown. It’s a tone...
View ArticleDiscomfort Part II: Diane Williams ‘The Kind You Know Forever’
Initially I had intended this post to be concerned with all of this sister-fucking business and the way both Evenson and Williams use naming (‘cat killers’ and ‘sister-fucker,’ respectively) as...
View ArticleTo See What I Mean: A Long Rant Toward Us
The next few posts are all part of an ongoing series. Or rather, an extended piece I assume no one wants to read in one sitting, as it's already rather long. Trust me, we'll go places.Part I.The first...
View ArticleTo See What I Mean
Part II.I knew there was something I didn’t trust reading Gardner, some vague suspicion that the man was grand-standing; making loose, provocative proclamations that weren’t accounting for everything;...
View ArticleTo See What I Mean
Part III.Remember how I talked about anxiety? And how anxiety can lead people to read for different purposes, to seek out different kinds of reassurance (aka comfort)? Well, I think the anxiety I...
View ArticleAshwin's Thoughts
I got a great comment from Ashwin that won't fit in the comments so I'm posting it here: I think you've said something in that good fiction - or any art, really - teaches us how to see. It's for that...
View ArticleBrian Evenson's 'The Father, Unblinking'
What I’m trying to articulate here is a particular urgency.A particular urgency fueled by my anxiety that people may approach narrative to not only reassure themselves by confirming their view of the...
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