August 15, 1914 Diaries, from Franz Kafka: Dreams, Diaries, and Fragments (1994) by Robert Andrew Parker (1927-2023) Kafka s diary entry for 15 Aug. 1914 (trans. by Martin Greenberg with Hannah Arendt): 15 August. I have been writing these past few days, may it continue. Today I am not so completely protected by and enclosed in my Continue reading August 15, 1914 Diaries, from Franz Kafka: Dreams,…
Time and Again by Breece D’J Pancake Mr Weeks called me out again tonight, and I look back down the hall of my house. I left the kitchen light burning. This is an empty old house since the old lady died. When Mr Weeks doesn’t call, I write everybody I know about my boy. Some Continue reading Read Time and Again, a short story by Breece D’J Pancake
Diane Williams newest collection I Liked Rex is forthcoming this September from NYRB. I think folks either like what Williams is doing or don t (or don t know about her and what she s doing). I like what she s doing very much. Here s NYRB s jacket copy; after that, a selection from the collection, I Did Trip Over a Very Continue reading Diane Williams I Liked Rex (Book acquired, 3 Aug. 2026)
Pierre; Or, The Ambiguities, Herman Melville, 1852. Signet Classics (1964). No cover artist or designer credited. 408 pages. The cover artist is Milton Glaser. The world is forever babbling of originality; but there never yet was an original man,
“Texas” by David Berman first published in Caliban #8, 1990 Along the inner stream I found a hive split open. I was deep in the country, where they said I would find swollen dogs and trees covered in dust. I found a house with windows and a door. Once a man stumbled into the barn with a fresh Continue reading Texas, a poem by David Berman
A Parkersburg Vocabulary by David Berman Sad Fingers (sad-fin-gurs) n. Nostalgia for an old area code. Ex: “He has sad fingers.” Hoxter (hock-stur) n. A fellow who lacks the energy to live up to his own sociopathic heritage. Roycambellside (roy-cam-bul-zid) adv. or adj. To be in the vicinity of Roy Campbell. Blue Emberton (blu-embr-tun) n. A wealthy man who Continue reading A Parkersburg…
I read Gene Wolfe s 1975 novel Peace a few weeks ago and then obsessively reread it. The adverb obsessively in the previous clause refers to a rereading that engendered more rereading, taking more notes, going on extratextual jaunts. In my brief write-up of the novel a few weeks ago, I suggested that Peace is an American post-modernist classic that we would Continue reading Riff on rereading Gene…
There used to be an odd, popular, and erroneous idea that the sun revolved around the earth. This has been replaced by an even odder, equally popular, and equally erroneous idea that the earth goes around the sun. In fact, the moon and the earth revolve around a common center, and this commonly-centered pair revolves Continue reading No center Joanna Russ
The Disappointment by Aphra Behn 1 One Day the Amarous Lisander, By an impatient Passion sway d, Surpris d fair Cloris, that lov d Maid, Who cou d defend her self no longer ; All things did with his Love conspire, The gilded Planet of the Day, In his gay Chariot, drawn by Fire, Was now descending to the Continue reading The Disappointment Aphra Behn
Catherine Foulkrod s Don t Cure Me is out early next year from McSweeney s. Their copy: A new king is being crowned, doctors are on the verge of a massive medical discovery, society is financially and socially segregated by the platelet-count numbers of constant blood tests, and the world is divided into three geographical regions: school, clinic, home. In Continue reading Catherine Foulkrod s Don…
Rex Stuart (T.2s) had made a pile as the star of the soap opera Sorrows and Trials. He’d set up his film company to cater to the streaming market. Right now, Afro-Futurism is hot. He asked his agents to name a Black writer who could write a series for his company. Secretariat’s name came up. Someone Continue reading Read an excerpt of Ishmael Reed s forthcoming novel, The Terrible Fives
One might argue—and justly—that many male writers are also represented by only one book or one group of poems. I would answer first that the damage done the women is greater because women constitute so few of the total in anthologies, classes, curricula, and reading lists at any level of education. Moreover, the real mischief Continue reading Some unpleasant possibilities Joanna Russ