The Megapolitan Flâneur is a series of short travel essays. These essays will focus on my trip to Chicago – September 4 – 6, 2013 – and what I experienced. Neither chronology or inventory, the essays will be reflective, free associative, and impressionistic. Continue reading The Megapolitan Flaneur: Part 1: Making the Literary Scene @ Quimby’s (9/5/13)
I review Zbig, an anthology about Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, and Trade, a dystopian novel about the commodification of sex. Continue reading Week in Reviews: Zbig @ NYJB and Trade @ CCLaP
Richard Melo is the author of the new novel, Happy Talk, about gun-toting nursing students and farcical nation-building efforts in Haiti. We discuss nation-building, literary form, and the publishing website Red Lemonade. Continue reading The Richard Melo Interview
I’m heading to CONvergence in Bloomington, MN for the July 4th weekend and I joined the National Book Critics Circle. Continue reading Driftless Area Review Metapost: CONvergence is nigh and the National Book Critics Circle
This week, Karl Wolff returns to the NSFW Files to investigate “Naked Lunch,” by William S. Burroughs, the 1959 sensation that marked a watershed for free expression in literature and included Mugwumps, heroin, and lots and lots of sex. Continue reading The NSFW Files: Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
This week at CCLaP, I review Wheatyard by Peter Anderson, a wonderful character study and a finely wrought coming-of-age novel, that one can also see it as a piece of pop culture archeology. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: Wheatyard, by Peter Anderson
I interviewed Arthur J. Magida, author of the Nazi Seance, about a Jewish clairvoyant active in Nazi Germany. We discuss serendipity, critical reading, and sensationalism in the media. Continue reading The Arthur J. Magida Interview
Issue #1 of CCLaP’s new monthly magazine is finally here! Click through for all the details, lots of screenshots, and a chance to download it for free. Continue reading CCLaP Journal #1 is here!
Recently I reviewed Seth Kaufman’s “reality TV novel” The King of Pain over on CCLaP. We discuss literature, TV, reading, and The Jersey Shore’s responsibility for the cultural apocalypse. Continue reading An Interview with Seth Kaufman
In this installment of the Critic’s Notebook, Karl Wolff looks at the intersections between social media and new technology on sites like Riffle, LibraryThing, and Facebook. Continue reading Critic’s Notebook: Riffle, LibraryThing, and Connectivity
