At Page-Turner, Daphne Merkin reads Catherine Lacey’s Nobody Is Ever Missing, which follows the journey of a disenchanted New Yorker as she hitchhikes her way through New Zealand. The novel, Merkin writes, features what Leslie Jamison, in her recent essay collection, termed a “post-wounded woman.”
The Wildebeest
An Anonymous Evangelical Poetry Fan
In what might be the first sighting of its kind, an anonymous evangelical poetry fan has made an appearance in the comments of Elizabeth Lucy Conway's recent essay on teaching poetry.
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No, I Will Speak
"How had no one ever told me about (Othello's) Emilia, who, in only a couple of lines, brings down one of the most conniving, merciless villains in all of Western literature? How had no one told me about this fantastic female character who defies not one but two sword-wielding men in order to make sure Desdemona, her mistress and friend, receives justice? I wanted to rip up my diploma. I wanted to start over as a freshman and devote my entire undergraduate career to the Gospel of Emilia." On Othello's Emilia and her refusal to be silenced.
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Time Keeps On Slippin’
"What does it even mean to say that I am experiencing my life in a jumpy, random sort of manner? Each instant of my experience is the experience, whatever its temporal relation to other experiences. So long as the memories are consistent, what meaning can be attached to the claim that my life happens in a jumbled sequence?" Physicist Paul Davies on why you can't remember your future.
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And the Award for Lifetime Achievement Goes to
"His life's work, and his stunning prose, teaches us to better understand political influence, American democracy, and the true power of biography." The National Book Foundation just announced Robert Caro as this year's recipient of the National Book Awards lifetime achievement medal. Definitely pair with this piece by our own Michael Bourne on Caro's epic literary ambitions.
Holiday OuLiPo
This holiday season, show a little restraint. Write a short short that uses each word only once, and email it to [email protected] by December 31 at midnight for your chance to win Electric Literature vol. 1 and be published on their blog, The Outlet. Further details available here.
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The future of the crossword
Crosswords in print newspapers are declining alongside print newspapers, but there may yet be a promising future in mobile apps.
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Just finished Lacey’s novel. Elyria is a fascinating character, who indeed is “post-wounded.” She’s also mentally ill.