“It has been said and thousands of times repeated that the greatest and most enduring works of art and literature were made of scanty materials; and everyone knows that what is lost in extent is gained in intensity.” Unamuno, ‘Life of Don Quixote & Sancho’

“This is the many-tentacled town, This is the flaming octopus, The ossuary of all of us. At the country’s end she waits, Feeling towards the old estates.” A stanza from Verhaeren’s “La Ville”, tr. Jethro Bithell as “The Town”.

How about a little Empyrean Series deal today: snag a copy of Prefaces, Two Stories, or Biographical Recreations from the Cranium of a Giantess this week, and we’ll send you a copy of Three Dreams for free! sublunaryeditions.com/search/Jean%20…

J. M. R. Lenz’s ‘The Country Preacher’ (1777) is a powerhouse novella rife with moral and tonal ambiguity. Due out this fall in the translation of Douglas Robertson (Douglas Robertson). Lenz (1751–92) is an important but often overlooked figure of the Sturm and Drang period.

“Read Lenz incessantly and—such is my state—he restored me to my senses.” —Franz Kafka, diary entry for Aug. 21, 1912, trans. J. Kresh & M. Greenberg

“[N]ot being yet fifty years old, ‘I have seen in my lifetime so many changes of fashion that I do not know how to conduct myself’, said Teresa de Jesús.” Unamuno, ‘Life of Don Quixote & Sancho’

A lovely critical notice of ‘Two Stories’ by Jean Paul from your 🦆 just sat on a 🧨 With the JP quote: “I am glad to say that centuries, millennia even, will come in which I shall not be read.”

Back in stock and glorious is our two volume set of the Collected Works of Emanuel Carnevali (courtesy Empyrean Series). Still available as a bundle for the intrepid reader: sublunaryeditions.com/bundles/the-co…

the book of Jan van Doesborch illustrations I copied out for Empyrean Series arrived today - it’s a beautiful volume full of cutthroat action, baffling mysteries and elevating commentary all available at a price that can’t be beat sublunaryeditions.com/products/of-th…

It’s very gratifying to see this starred review of Latimer’s ‘Twelve Stories, with Selected Early Writings’, published in the latest issue of Library Journal.

I have translations of two prose poems by Eugene Jolas, from his collection I Have Seen Monsters and Angels (Empyrean Series). Jolas serialized Finnegans Wake in his literary magazine transition, Joyce being a key influence on these pieces: paradise-almanac.net/p/two-prose-po…

I'm so glad that Cleveland Review of Books exists (and also they gave me the chance to write about Cesare Pavese's mad versions of Greek myth and Platonic dialogue) - lately & sumptuously reissued by Sublunary Editions clereviewofbooks.com/writing/cesare…

For the Almanac, I have a translation of Jean Paul Richter, whose birthday is today, one of the most bizarre and difficult writers I've had to translate, a key influence on Melville, Dickenson, and Borges among many others: paradise-almanac.net/p/preface-to-t…

First read of summer break, from the fine folks at ⁦Empyrean Series⁩ via ⁦Sublunary Editions⁩. Trilingual dedication has raised expectations.

"In scholarship, as with virtue and amity, we first love its profits but then grow to love its costs, because they are so dear." Jean Paul

Empyrean nos. 41 & 42 are out now, and leaping into the letter boxes & hands of readers! Two prose fictions from 1801: the first-ever English trans. of Jean Paul’s LOGBOOK OF GIANNOZZO THE BALLOONIST; & a new ed. of KRUITZNER, its first republication since the 19th century.

KRUITZNER (1801), a “gorgeously weird Gothic thriller” by Harriet Lee, is out now!