'A translator thinks in terms of 'solutions'—a cage in search of a bird—whereas Kafka most certainly did not. He lived in the labyrinth, the cageless prison, the echo chamber, the endless rooms of dreams.' Harper's Magazine, Joy Williams, intimate with mystery. harpers.org/archive/2024/0…

Over in Naples, the ancient #PortAlba , Gate of the Dawn, is the street of booksellers. A lively souk at best, & always full of riches-- but a challenge to maintain. Now the bookstores have created a Cultural Association, & I'm proud to subscribe, their 1st overseas member.

Today there's been some back-&-forth w/ Arkadia Editore re: the Italian edition of my TALKING HEADS: 77, trans. Alessandra Ceccoli, later this year. So, Throwback: doing my damndest for the original, back in '03:

'It’s not that culture is our nature, but that it is /of/ our nature. It’s both possible & necessary because of the kinds of body we have. ... [It's a] prosthesis to our bodies known as civilisation.' London Review of Books, #TerryEagleton , uniquely illuminating as ever. lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

A brief & brainless slam in New York Times Books

'I have successfully selected all images containing cars. But I am a robot, so I may not click that I am.' Brainy & crackling short-short SF, new Flash Fiction Online from Lettie Prell. (My wife, & damn right I'm proud.) flashfictiononline.com/article/please…

'Incarcerated people have to be part of that conversation. They are the vanguard of understanding the most extreme form of state & police violence.' Los Angeles Review of Books, Jeffery J. Williams draws out Doran Larson on her vast prison-writing project.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-shad…

'I asked her to look at me & after a few moments-- (pause)-- after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare. I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (pause. low) Let me in. (pause).' #SamuelBeckett , BOTD, 'Krapp's Last Tape.'

'What one might call heroic is...finding a different perspective on the dogma of love. And not... the kind of delusional spite that degrades love, but actually appreciates it.' Tony Tulathimutte The Paris Review: rejection in a kaleidoscope, changing shape & color. theparisreview.org/blog/2024/04/1…

Many thanks, Gabino Iglesias, as for me, since Twitter’s been grappling w/ criticism lately, here’s my Selected, w/ thanks always, Dzanc Books :

Oh. Was there some discourse on #BookReviews , this week? Got by me (helping out Mom, 97)— but I’d like to think I address the issue w/ every piece, & especially w/ an extended overview like this, a ‘22 Throwback. Thanks, Literary Hub: lithub.com/renaissance-of…

“I am thinking of aurochs & angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you & I may share, my Lolita.” At sunset yesterday, some Cambridge detail:

We lost #DubravkaUgresic last year, but her latest speaks as resonantly as ever, even in its citations.

'There is such power & grit & a funny kind of lyricism that I have to tell you to try to make something of it:” #ToniMorrison , editor, showing thought, giving encouragement, & creating community via her rejections. Brava, Melissa Moe @lareviewofbooks. lareviewofbooks.org/article/there-…

Some mighty exciting mail from Dzanc Books, today. If you don’t know the boggling, brilliant fiction of Lindsey Drager— get with it!