Recommended Reading: Rachael Maddux’s “Hail Dayton,” which features one of the finest opening paragraphs ever printed.
“The town was called Dayton.”
What to Believe In
Recommended Reading: Rene Denfeld and Stephanie Feldman on the line between realism and fantasy in their debut novels.
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Through a Bell Darkly
As you may have heard, this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of Sylvia Plath. It also, not coincidentally, marks the release of two new biographies: American Isis (the first to draw material from the recently-opened Ted Hughes archive) and Mad Girl’s Love Song (which looks at the poet’s relationship with her “big, dark, hunky boy”). Emma Garman weighs the impact of all this new scholarship at Salon.
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Appearing Elsewhere
Bet you didn’t know this Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the first “going postal” shootings in Oklahoma. I have a piece at The Morning News examining America’s export of this peculiar brand of spree killings around the world, most recently to Oslo, Norway.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Falcones; Fallada; Kristeva; le Carré; Anh; Twain
Out this week: The Barefoot Queen by Ildefonso Falcones; A Stranger in My Own Country by Hans Fallada; Teresa, My Love by Julia Kristeva; an omnibus edition of John le Carré’s first three novels; Ticket to Childhood by Nguyen Nhat Anh; and a new volume of letters by Mark Twain. For more on these and other new titles, check out our Great Second-half 2014 Book Preview.
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@NickMoran
Wow. I agree. I also loved “besot by hyper-conservative goofery.”
I just forwarded “Hail Dayton” to a student I’m coaching, who fears she is irredeemably lackluster as a writer. I disagree. I think she has been beaten down by an idiot of a boss who “doesn’t like” her writing but can give her absolutely no specifics as to why. What I would like would be to stride into her office and smite him.
My student’s assignment is to let the words of “Hail Dayton” wash over her.
I am very excited about discovering Rachel Maddux. What a one-of-a-kind voice she [email protected]
Moe Murph
Least Favorite Comment: “There’s something wrong with it but I don’t know what it is.”
@Moe Murph, agreed! Hope you get to smite and soon!