Literature
-
Writers Laughing: Sandra Cisneros
I know, I know. I hear you! Where’s the content, Jacke? Give us some thoughts about studying abroad. Or your argument for a new translation of Dante. Or tell us all about your dream bookstore. Remember when you pitted two classic novellas against one another in a literary death match? Those were heady days! Or what about… Continue reading
-
What They Knew #30
“High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water…” – Mark Twain “…but everybody likes water.” – Mark Twain Continue reading
-
Small Press Shout-Outs: Last Call for the Holidays!
With a week left until the Great Opening of The Presents Day, just a very quick reminder of all the holiday gift ideas we’ve had here lately: Equip your favorite spy (or spy wannabe) with the Passport to Crime bundle from Soho Press Drop into a fluffy Minnesota snowdrift with Graywolf Press (and see if… Continue reading
-
Terrible Poem Breakdown: An Apologia (and What They Knew #16-24)
Yesterday we started the new series Terrible Poem Breakdown, in which I criticized a Terrible Poem primarily for its negativity. I’ve had it pointed out to me that this may be somewhat hypocritical, coming from me. This blog has not exactly been moondreams and rainbows. Readers, I’ve been trying to be encouraging! And yet I… Continue reading
-
Small Press Shout-Out: Soho Press!
Today’s small press shout-out is the fabulous Soho Press! Soho has been pumping out quality books from New York City since 1986. They specialize in literary fiction and young adult books and I’m sure they’re all great, but… ah, there’s no point in denying it, I’m most drawn to Soho Crime, their international-themed crime fiction imprint.… Continue reading
-
What They Knew #14
“Everything intelligent is so boring.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Continue reading
-
How to Review Books: My Manifesto
Sometimes changes make tired old arguments look even more creaky. This is how I felt when I encountered yet another back-and-forth about whether book reviewers should strive to be positive and avoid snark, or whether they should be hard-minded critics, willing to blame as well as praise in their criticism. Maria Bustillos has a rundown.… Continue reading
-
Ford, Lawrence, and the Wise Professor: On Discovering Greatness in Literature
This story starts with a great moment in literary autobiography – well, fine, let’s go ahead and say it has a claim to being one of the great moments in the history of literature. I have a personal story of my own to throw in at the end. But the story begins here, in the… Continue reading
-
Failure and Penelope Fitzgerald
Oh, good lord. No wonder I love Penelope Fitzgerald so much. Here I thought it was the short length of her novels. Instead it’s the life experience: By that time, in her early sixties, Penelope Fitzgerald was long accustomed to humiliation and, far worse, to catastrophe. Indeed, her late flowering as a novelist of extraordinary… Continue reading
-
Self-Publishing: On the Dignity of Small Audiences, Part II
Previously we wrote about the small readership Alice Munro had for the first fifteen years of her publishing career. Next up: William Carlos Williams (of “The Red Wheelbarrow” fame) whose 1935 collection of poems An Early Martyr sold just eight copies its first year. Recall my modest goal for my novella (available now!): just ten copies… Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 