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Review • Dossier K. by Imre Kertész

May 24, 2013
Review • Dossier K. by Imre Kertész

To be more accurate, Dossier K. was not “written” at all; it is a two hundred page interview that editor Zolatán Hafner conducted with the author during 2003 and 2004.
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Review • Thinner Than Skin by Uzma Aslam Khan

May 22, 2013
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Unfolding in the icy climes and unfriendly peaks of the glaciers of north Pakistan, the novel is narrated by Nadir, a Pakistani photographer living in San Francisco, and Maryam, a gypsy lady from a nomadic tribe in north Pakistan
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Note • Mo Said she was Quirky by James Kelman

May 20, 2013
MO

One thing that’s for sure about James Kelman’s new novel Mo said she was quirky is that it won’t leave readers indifferent. Kelman’s style and innovative narrative technique will either bring delight or disgust, but little in between.
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Review • The Whispering Muse, The Blue Fox, and From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón

May 17, 2013
SJON

Sjón has been able to internalize the rhythm, tone, and structure of these classic literary forms, and then brilliantly recreate the ancient art of storytelling for a post-modern age.
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Review • Red Moon by Benjamin Percy

May 16, 2013
redmoon

To be sure, Red Moon is tapping into contemporary monster fiction popularity, but it does so while attempting to join the history of the social novel as well.
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Review • Fidel Castro by Nick Castior

May 15, 2013
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Fidel Castro is brief, flows smoothly through six decades, and outlines the development of Castro’s political consciousness and official ideology, from Nationalism to Communism and back again.
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Review • Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash

May 13, 2013
nothing gold can stay

Considering the glut of zombies lunching on people’s feet and pallid vampires sucking down plasma in fiction these days, it’s refreshing to find a different variety of horror, sadness and human emotion in Nothing Gold Can Stay, Ron Rash’s superb short story collection.
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Review • A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel

May 9, 2013
a guide to being born - ramona ausubel

Fortunately for readers, Ausubel is here to guide us through her richly imagined worlds with grace and sensitivity, wiping away the sentimentality to get to the heart of what it means to survive under the weight of tragedy.
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Review • I Don’t Know I Said by Matthew Savoca

May 8, 2013
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I Don’t Know I Said tells the story of a young twenty-something couple traveling nomadically across America in search of finding what they can’t even manage to put into words. Something.
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Note • Forty-One Jane Doe’s by Carrie Olivia Adams

May 3, 2013
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Drawing on quotes from Stephen Hawking, Leonard Euler, and Pythagoras, Adams embraces science and mathematics to create a wonderland of words. She is at once large in her curiosities and gentle in her explorations.
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Fiction • Kennesaw Mountain by Laura Usselman

Brian is getting further and further away from me in the storm, but still I do not call out for him to stop.  I don’t know how he can see to guide himself through the pitch darkness of these woods.  The storm hasn’t begun to flash and roar the...
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Interview • Sjón

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I’m a little bit surprised at how exotic people think the books are. It tells me that maybe my way of thinking is a little bit stranger than I had realized.
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Essay • The Human Connection: Touching the Soul of Literature by C.E. McAuley, Ph.D.

Literature, the novel especially, had a much more central place in the cultural life of modern civilization fifty years ago than it does today. Literary criticism is replete with references to the “death of the novel” and the almost complete eclipse of poetry from the average American’s life. Literary...
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Long before the American Revolution and the political turmoil that followed, there had been social unrest at home. In the period between 1776 and 1790, the agitation continued and became more intense, fueled by the gross inequality of wealth and by the democratic ideals that had motivated many small...
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| MFA Corner | University of Oregon

| MFA Corner |  University of Oregon

The MFA students form a very strong, supportive community, holding regular readings at a local bookstore and meeting informally with each other throughout the year. Eugene is a pleasant city tailored to student life and interests, with affordable housing, a diversity of cafes and restaurants, an active music...
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I’ve started grocery shopping at one of the new, big places that takes up an entire city block, but claims to support the environment and our health and world peace and all of that.  It’s one of those multi-billion-dollar chains that claims to be making a difference in the...
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Essay • Two Cheers for Anarchism by James C. Scott

It is a cruel irony that this great promise of democracy is rarely realized in practice. Most of the great political reforms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been accompanied by massive episodes of civil disobedience, riot, lawbreaking, the disruption of public order, and, at the limit, civil...
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| MFA Corner | University of Massachusetts

| MFA Corner |  University of Massachusetts

There is always an invigorating exchange going on, and always courses in which writers and poets gather together, as well as readings and involvement of alumni who stay in the area because it’s a lovely place to live.
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Fiction • The Woman of Porto Pim by Antonio Tabucchi

I sing every evening, because that’s what I’m paid to do, but the songs you heard were pesinhos and sapateiras for the tour­ists and for those Americans over there laughing at the back. They’ll get up and stagger off soon. My real songs are chamari­tas, just four of them,...
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Fiction • Mendel’s Wall by Jai Chakrabarti

As soon as Shabbos ended, Mendel went for his heavy tools.  He had enough sheetrock in the basement—that wouldn’t be a problem—but first he made himself a coffee and added a bit of schnapps.  He poured a little into his palm and rubbed it behind his ears like perfume. ...
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| MFA Corner | Colorado State University

| MFA Corner |  Colorado State University

Through our portfolio (which requires annotations and/or a critical paper), students are expected to read widely and rigorously. We believe that this particular challenge is crucial for students’ writing.
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Fiction • The Mexicans Never Ask by Chiara Barzini

The Mexicans never ask what you want to focus on and expect you to understand their every little point of view. They put you in an attic and give you clothes that smell like camphor and disinfectant sprays. They shake their heads at you because you fear the hurricane...
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Why the VIDA Count is Bullshit

And for those truly concerned with sexism in the literary arts, wouldn’t a more sensible analysis have compared compensation for a man and a woman? In other words, VIDA is asking the wrong question, and is encouraging a misconceived line of inquiry.
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Essay • The Human Connection: Touching the Soul of Literature by C.E. McAuley, Ph.D.

Literature, the novel especially, had a much more central place in the cultural life...

Essay • Democracy Denied: The Untold Story by Arthur D. Robbins

Long before the American Revolution and the political turmoil that followed, there had been...

Fiction • Produce by Sarah Gerkensmeyer

I’ve started grocery shopping at one of the new, big places that takes up...

Essay • Two Cheers for Anarchism by James C. Scott

It is a cruel irony that this great promise of democracy is rarely realized...

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I sing every evening, because that’s what I’m paid to do, but the songs...

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Its materiality was enchanting to me: the smell of burnt wood that lingered long...

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