“I didn’t want to like Jess Walter.” Ann K. Ryles interviews Jess Walter about his new short story collection We Live in Water, fatherhood, poverty, and what he daydreams about while waiting in line at the grocery store at The Rumpus.
Grocery Shopping with Jess Walter
Kandy Kakes and Pathologies
Is anyone else hungry, now? Caution: this review of Alexandra Kleeman’s You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine from The New Inquiry is a real appetite inducer.
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Lincoln vs. Hitler
“Adolf Hitler loved books—that nasty bent for book burning notwithstanding—and the book industry loves him back. Type his name into Amazon, and while he doesn’t trigger the English-language numbers of Jesus (186,740) or Lincoln (70,710), he registers a solid 18,597—a stunning figure for someone who died less than 70 years ago.” On the Fuhrer’s paradoxical relationship with literature.
Translating on a Tether
“There are so many ways to look at translation. One that has recently occurred to me is that of a tether: the translator is tethered to the meaning of the original the way an animal can be tethered to a stake. You can’t take off and roam the hills, but you can definitely move around and experience a comfortable degree of freedom.” Asymptote talks with Juliet Winters Carpenter about Japanese tanka poetry, Machi Tawara‘s Salad Anniversary, and the careful balance of translation.
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Bread, Bread, Bread
From “Insufficient Milk And Restraint” to “Eating Berries While Pretending To Be A Monk To Make Hunger And Desperation Feel Like A Game,” here is every meal from Jane Eyre ranked in terms of severity.
Spillman’s Memoir
Recommended Reading: Rob Spillman, editor of Tin House, speaks with the LA Times about his new memoir, All Tomorrow’s Parties. Spillman was featured in our piece on literary editors’ favorite issues of their magazines.