Jean Rhys Contest
There was mention of Jean Rhys in a comment recently here at htmlgiant and it made me think of her. When I was a wee lass, like 19 to 24 or so, I was obsessed with Jean Rhys (and other stuff). I read all of her novels, (that didn’t take very long), all of her short stories, even wierd fragments, her unfinished autobiography, and then I did two sort of wierd things: read a biography of her (well, maybe that is not so wierd) and painted a painting of her from the picture of the cover of the biography, Jean Rhys: Life and Work by Carole Angier.
After that biography, I did not read another biography for maybe ten years. The experience was THAT disturbing. In fact, I vowed never to read a biography of any of my heros again. I have since relaxed that rule- I have mellowed with age, like many do–but man, what a defining moment. I was so horrified with Jean Rhys and so heartbroken at what she was really like as a human being. I felt-robbed. Now, as I’ve gotten older and more realistic as to how weak and troubled most human beings are, I feel less disturbed by Rhys. Still disturbed, but less so. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, here is an excerpt from Jean Rhys: Life and Work: READ MORE >
Pot Psychology is back! Also, Susie Bright has been hanging around Jezebel all week
Is anyone else over here in lit-land also a fan of the dynamic duo pictured above? I’m generally a fan of Jezebel, but these guys are always an extra dose of fun. If you’ve never seen it, the premise of Pot Psychology is simple- Rich and Tracie get stoned (off-camera) and then give sex advice (on-camera) to people who write in. There’s usually an episode (they run under 10 minutes) posted every Friday, but then there was a silence after 12/26/08, broken only by the terse, uninformative announcement on 1/16/09 that “FYI for those who have been wondering: Pot Psychology will be on hiatus until further notice. Sorry, folks.” So how happy was I this morning, when I saw Pot Psychology listed as a headline link at the top of Gawker this morning? Very happy. Still no explanation as to where it went, or why it’s back, or if we can expect it to be a regular feature once more–but let’s save the truth commission for another day. On this day, we are just glad it is here.
Vicarious MFA: Week in review
The Vicarious MFA
Monday: In Amy Benson’s Non/Fiction class we discussed The Things They Carried. Everybody liked it, said smart things, left feeling hopeful. Read “Beauty Before Comfort” by Allison Glock for next week.
+In Lethem’s class we talked about Joe Brainard’s “I Remember” and Carl Wilson’s “Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste” which was endorsed by a classmate here.
+Joyce Carol Oates came to lecture. (See notes here.)
Tuesday: I turned in a workshop submission.
Wednesday: Lethem took a group from the class to a secret bookstore which is described here. I bought “What Maise Knew” by Henry James. The copy I got is really old and has an Edward Gorey illustration on the cover. There was a whole section of the store devoted to Edward Gorey covers. I can’t explain how great this place was. If any of you are ever in New York let me know and I will try to get you an appointment there.
Thursday: Discussed In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin and an awesome profile of Chatwin by David Plante. Read Dakota by Kathleen Norris for next week.
**I feel like including my notes is kind of useless for the VMFA, and that the reading lists are what you really want.**
Where are you, Jereme? I Miss you.
Where are you Jereme? I miss you. That’s all.
Our Value
Fellow Giants, I was going to wait until the board meeting on Monday, but maybe I’ll just go ahead and do this now. According to the website $timator, we’re worth $7,049.
I say we sell.
Fabiana Semprebom: Think Borges’ lady was as hot as Canas’?
Writing is nothing more than a guided dream.
Borges said that. I would say that Fabiana is a dream. I go now to watch her boyfriend play tennis, or at least some of her other compatriots. Happy Boobs Friday, people.
Kanye West VH1 Storytellers
Man I am so excited for VH1 STORYTELLERS! I am so excited for it I originally typed VH! STORYTELLERS! My uncle was at the MEATLOAF VH1 STORYTELLERS! He said it was awesome because Meatloaf would be all like “Well, I was wanting to do YOU KNOW *audience laughs* with some hot girl and we were in my CAR and she was like ‘No I’m a Catholic girl who likes sex after marriage not BEFORE marriage because of JESUS and you should marry me and love me until the end of time,’ and I was like OKAY because I love baseball and baseball is a metaphor for everything and I wanted to hit a HOMERUN and by HOMERUN I mean, well, you know *audience laughs* and that’s how I came up with the song ‘Objects in the Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are’ and here we goooooo” PIANO!
Artistic expression is impossible under Barack Obama
This arrived in my email inbox this morning from a contributor who has asked to remain anonymous. I feel like posting it, so I will:
See what was happening was
See people were going to have the best hamburger yet, Puff Daddy had been sighted at the Anne’s Snack Shop in Pittsburgh for a ghetto burger
Dogs were having fun
See what was happening was there were no stop signs in any of the apartment complexes where anyone had grown up
Barack Obama brought the meat
Every morning in his cells, Bret Easton Ellis stands up and looks at the wall for 100 minutes before beginning on the sentences that will be deleted from his next novel
Someone is ready for hungry time
Today someone is ready for hungry time
When I say that ‘Artistic expression is impossible under Barack Obama’ I’m not any way trying to be funny
Though it will be easy to say I am
The best advice I ever got on writing was when the small woman full of blue blood stopped me in the street and asked me if I could help her tie her shoe
Which never happened
But was still the best advice I ever got on writing
People are getting afraid more often now, while eating waffles
At 4:04 am on 19th street in downtown Hemmings, a small child wriggles his fists in anticipation of the museum that will be built in the next 2-18 years over the ground where the room where he was going to one day cheat on his wife once stood
Today Barack Obama gets up in the morning and goes to the kitchen for a ham sandwich
But there is no longer any ham
There is an autographed replica of the first woman ever to be eaten alive, and there is a pack of Starburst gummies, and there is a lariat
But no ham
Joyce Carol Oates thinks you should get a life, is on suicide watch
Random Undergrad Question-Asker: I was wondering what you think of blogging?
Joyce Carol Oates: Blogging? What I think of blogging?
RUQA: Um, yeah.
JCO: Well I think that anyone who’s worried about their blogging is wasting their time. Next question? READ MORE >