I shot this video. And added the music! Thing is, I love the subway. I like to write on the subway.
I MUST BEAT TAO!
This is not the Carles Tao Lin but some other Tao Lin. Or maybe this is Carles.
The Stranger books editor asked if I would participate. I said sure. He asked what sort of writerly service I could provide. I said I would be happy to spend an hour with the winner of whatever writerly package I was a part of discussing the proper use of white space in a piece of fiction. And then I said I would also be happy to tell the person why they shouldn’t write a story in the second person.
My contribution to this charity prize package—which is called “The DIY MFA, Semester Two” and includes Maria Semple and James Morrow offering advice on one of your stories and a graduation dinner with Ryan Boudinot—is listed on auction website as: “…a beer or two with Matthew Simmons…” Pressed for space, they have summarized my contribution. This is okay. I have some observations, though. READ MORE >
On Teaching On Writing On Luck
I’m lucky.
Three days a week I get to stand in front of a classroom of students and talk about writing. I get to try new things and challenge what students understand about writing, words and knowledge. On the first day of class, we play with Legos and it completely blows my students’ minds that this is a serious college class where we’re going to do serious things in fun ways. I love teaching. It is awesome.
Teaching (writing) is hard and frustrating for so many reasons.
David Lynch in Conversation
[Thanks to Dan Wickett for the head up!]
Around the Web
Jeff Parker on Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood at The Rumpus.
Mary Gaitskill’s got some new fiction at New York Magazine.
Carolyn See on a life of Mithradates, “The Poison King,” at the Washington Post Book World.”He wasn’t a very savory person, unless, perhaps, you hated the Roman Empire with all your heart.” Hmm.
New Raleigh Quarterly features poems by Paige Taggart, Mathias Svalina, Claire Donato, Farrah Field, and then some. Also, I guess, the fiction and nonfiction.
Dennis Cooper’s got the Spotlight on Bataille’s Blue of Noon.
Also, over at Jezebel, they’re having a discussion nearly as contentious as our recent ones on racism, over some people in the audience at an Ariana Reines reading who laughed in the wrong place, or in the wrong way, or something. But don’t worry, this debacle seems to have an element of potential racism in it, too. Scroll down to the comments for a particularly vitriolic screed by Eileen Myles. To be honest, I can’t really get a bead on what’s at stake here, to have drawn this much of her ire, but my immense respect for her coupled with the apparent depth of her rage has caught my attention. I’m inclined to believe I’m missing something, maybe since I wasn’t there. Also, at the top of the post, they’ve got actual audio from the event–not the questionable laughing itself, sadly, but about a minute of the Q&A.
Blake Butler—
Kathy Acker reads “The Diseased,” a translation, by a 12 yr old girl, at the Ear Inn, November 11, 1978.
6
Choose to Know
In the fall of 1997 I had a lot of raking to do, but my friends dragged me up to the University of Chicago instead. Kurt Vonnegut was there, reading from his new book, Timequake. During an extended discussion with the moderator, the old man made a keen point about what challenges an audience’s sympathies and what placates them. Referring to Schindler’s List, I think, Vonnegut suggested the movie was exploitative, and that a far better goal would be to try showing Hitler from a sympathetic angle. I would go farther and look for an art that makes me empathize.
No one has done either yet, though Downfall does show him in a very human way (as opposed to most other representations of Hitler, which I think are caricatures and, as such, not human). But would a writer be castigated for showing Hitler as a sad, diligent, intelligent and charismatic leader? Would an audience be able to accept the despot portrayed as a hardworking idealist, perhaps kind and grandfatherly — or would we call for censorship? I doubt it would be difficult to put together a story that showed Hitler, truthfully, as someone we can identify with. It would be scary, but would there be value?
I can’t see how there wouldn’t be. READ MORE >
Overheard in NYC: Why Do the Heathen Rage? Edition
This Saturday I gave a one-day seminar on Gordon Lish and the Lish school(s) of writing at The New School. A lot of what I spoke about I’ve written about on this site, and some of it may be posted in the future, when its written form is a bit more polished than lecture/discussion notes, but for right now I just wanted to share one tidbit from the class. Actually, it happened before the class. And actually, it didn’t even happen to me. I was sitting in the classroom, and the first student walked in. He was holding a copy of “Guilt,” a story from GL’s collection What I Know So Far that I had assigned as pre-reading. He told me that he’d been looking it over in the elevator, and the man next to him had noticed what he was reading. He said the man was a good bit older, and presumably affiliated with the program, because if you weren’t taking a class or teaching one, you wouldn’t be there on a Saturday. He said the man leaned over and remarked irritably to him: “Everything Gordon Lish says is lies.” Then the ride was over and they parted ways. He came into class and told me this story. It made me feel like it was bound to be a great class, and moreover, despite the gray sky and freezing rain, a wonderful day. I thought, that, right there. That’s why I love Lish- he brings it out in people.
Free Glass
Speaking of musics…looks like Amazon is giving away for free The Orange Mountain Music Philip Glass Sampler Vol.I.
If this wets your appetite, I’ll be posting a link to a free download of Glass’s Dracula played by the Kronos Quartet — along with links to other free musics, and art, as I do every Wednesday — tomorrow over at my spot.
El Greed by David NeSmith
Chelsea’s post (did anyone else notice that it’s spelled “ADVENTUERES”?) reminded me that David NeSmith’s cartoon, EL GREED, is hilarious and poetic-pithy. You can view them all online, or for $4 you can order a handsome 20p chapbook from Publishing Genius.
Also, I’ll send a copy to the first three commenters who say they want one for free. Here’s a sample:
Two more after the break. READ MORE >