Andy Devine vs. Davis Schneiderman
(Adam’s note: The other day I was rummaging around in Andy Devine’s gross apartment trying to stomp on a cockroach when I came across a box of cassettes. “What are these, Andy?” I asked. He was passed out on a crap-ass couch. “Mix tapes,” he grunted, “for old girlfriends.” I doubted that. I played one. It was a conversation with Davis Schneiderman. “What are you doing with this interview with Davis Schneiderman, Andy?” I asked. He rolled over on the couch. “Nothing, because I don’t like his cocky last comments.” So I took the tape home with me, transcribed it, and I present it to you now. It’s great. Andy really contextualized and problematizes Schneiderman’s new novel, Blank. Who better than the author of Words to ask questions in a way that points to how much content exists within a book that has no words. Roxane wrote about the book here, should you want more.)
Davis Schneiderman is a multimedia artist and writer and the author or editor of eight print and audio works, including the novels Drain (TriQuarterly/Northwestern) and Blank: a novel (Jaded Ibis), with audio from Dj Spooky; the co-edited collections Retaking the Universe: Williams S. Burroughs in the Age of Globalization (Pluto) and The Exquisite Corpse: Chance and Collaboration in Surrealism’s Parlor Game (Nebraska). His creative work has appeared in numerous publications including Fiction International, The Chicago Tribune, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, and Exquisite Corpse, and he is a contributor to The Nervous Breakdown and Big Other. 2010-11 appearances include the University of Notre Dame, the Ukrainian Embassy in D.C, the Chicago Cultural Center, the University of London Institute in Paris, and The New School, among others. He is Chair of the English Department at Lake Forest College, and also Director of Lake Forest College Press/&NOW Books. He edits The &NOW AWARDS: The Best Innovative Writing.
Andy Devine: How did you decide between BLANK and, say, BLANKS or something entirely different for the title?
Davis Schneiderman: I’ve always been fascinated by the titles of musical works, particularly mid-twentieth century jazz compositions. I think how different a work such as Charles Mingus’ “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk” would be if it were called “Untitled” or “Round Midnight” or “Rocket Number 9 Take Off for the Planet Venus” (Sun Ra). The title of minimalist art works can also function in the same way—coding the text or painting or sculpture in a way that is different than how the title of a non-conceptual work might function. Would The Da Vinci Codes have been the same book? What about Chicken Soup for the Souls? For the most part, probably, except that the latter might have approached self-help from a pantheist perspective. READ MORE >
Michael Kimball’s Us [Tyrant Books, 2011]
Michael Kimball’s truly crushing second novel, released in the UK in 2005, will finally see its U.S. release on May 10 of this year from Tyrant Books. Preorders have begun. Below, a trailer for the book based on a single sentence, created by Luca Dipierro.
Gordon Lish Knopf Bibliography [1977-1995]
Gordon Lish began working as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf in 1977 after leaving his role as editor at Esquire Magazine. He continued work with Knopf for 18 years until parting ways in 1995, having assembled what is arguably one of the greatest editorial runs in publishing.
The listing below is a catalog of the titles and authors Lish published during this time. This is surely not a complete list, but is at least a decent stab at the continuum; comments are welcome with any suggestions as to the extant.
Most of these titles, if not having been reprinted by other houses, are available used on Amazon or in places like Abe Books.
1976 Don DeLillo, Ratner’s Star
Cynthia Ozick, Bloodshed and Three Novellas
1977 Don DeLillo, The Players
1978 Stanley Crawford, Some Instructions to my Wife…
Don DeLillo, Running Dog
Barry Hannah, Airships
1979 Mary Robison, Days
It is Thursday Morning: Go Right Ahead
Do you have a respectable suit you could trust me with?
Don’t be too harsh to these poems until they’re typed.
I am sorry Yeats is dead.
A dog among the fairies.
I cycled home in the dark without a lamp of any kind.
Fourteen pints is par.
I went on all over the States, ranting poems to enthusiastic audiences that, the week before, had been equally enthusiastic about lectures on Railway Development or the Modern Turkish Essay.
Our discreditable secret is that we don’t know anything at all.
Then hang a ram rose over the rags.
I am not a country man. I stand for the evening pub.
WOWELS.
Or a lotion of invisibility.
Somebody’s boring me. I think it’s me.
RIP Nate Dogg (1969-2011)
Damn. Eternal flute solo for the boss.
The Poetry of Steve Roggenbuck
Steve Roggenbuck is the author of two poetry collections, i am like october when i am dead and DOWNLOAD HELVETICA FOR FREE.COM. Both collections feature what could be called minimalist poetry, notably short poems of only a few lines, sometimes one phrase, and both were self-published into the public domain, both in print (for purchase) and online (for free).
Here is the title poem from the former:
i am like october when i am dead
there is my hand
i am like the killers of people
Here is another poem from that book:
to my nephew on his birthday
i will choke your dad
i dont care
im not afraid
most clouds are simply mayonnaise
9. New Tony Kushner podcast.
8. Riveting: the day Reagan was shot.
9. When I was in grad school the elderly would oft phone the English department and ask if a grad student “would write my life story.” Anyway, none of us did that I know of, though one student did write porn under a pen-name to make some beer money. Anyway, fascinating article on ghost writing here.
People just seem to be really surprised that the name on the book is not always the name of the person who wrote it.
9. Children e-books? Orwellian. Blue phosphorescence on the face. Worst at bedtime. The smell of blankets and ozone and despair.
13 ways of looking at Michael Stewart: An Interview
Back in 2001, I took my very first fiction workshop. It was with Catherine Kasper. I’d never written a short story before. I was a junior. My first story submission was terrible, truly terrible.
Despite my really shitty story, Michael Stewart was nice to me.
I thought he was the best writer in class. (And he was.) And there were some spectacular writers in class.
Over the past decade, Michael and I have consumed a lot of coffee and breakfast tacos together. We have played many chess games and go games. We have seen each other’s heartbreaks and victories.
Michael Stewart is a charming man and a charming writer. His first book, The Hieroglpyhics, is out now (and can be purchased here) with Mud Luscious Press.
“The Peaches Are Cheap” from LOOK! LOOK! FEATHERS by Mike Young
It occurred to me, hanging out with Mike Young last weekend, that I/maybe we have not talked enough about Mike’s really fantastic collection of stories, LOOK! LOOK! FEATHERS here on HTML Giant. I will endeavor to do so, to at least offer an impression of each story, over the coming weeks.
So, PART ONE.
Placed at the beginning of the book of stories is “The Peaches Are Cheap,” a flash meant maybe not just to be itself, but meant instead to be the slow, disjointed, “look around, case the joint,” opening of all that comes after. It’s a couple of dudes in a car, and all the stuff they see—all this stuff that promises to act like hooks through the rest of the book. These hooks on which we hang the answers to our “where the fuck are we” questions. Hang the things we unpack to learn about where the whole where of the book is. READ MORE >
Check It Out: The Rest of the Story by Chris Tarry
Sometimes writers really surprise me. Rest of the Story is a short story collection and album by writer and electric bassist Chris Tarry. Actually, Rest of the Story is an album first with nine jazz compositions, then a small collection of fiction containing four really tight, interesting, at times surreal stories. The collection itself is the case for the compact disc containing the album. The album is actually the rest of the story. You have to buy Rest of the Story to understand how awesome the concept and how impeccably it is executed, is but there are some pictures below and here is a short video about the project.