Berlin
Randall Jarrell once argued a point that I will now paraphrase and, in doing so, over-simplify: As a culture, we need book criticism, not book reviews. I sort of agree, but let鈥檚 not get into all of that. Having finished Berlin by Ale拧 艩teger, I am reminded of Jarrell鈥檚 idea because I am supposed to be writing a review ...
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Rambling Jack
鈥淩ambling Jack鈥攚hat鈥檚 that?鈥 鈥淎 novel. Novella, I guess.鈥 鈥淵eah, it looks short. What is it, a hundred pages?鈥 鈥淪orta. It鈥檚 a duel language book, so really, only about… 50 pages total.鈥 鈥50 pages?鈥 鈥淚ncluding illustrations.鈥 鈥淎nd this鈥攚hat is it鈥 Dalkey Archive鈥攖hey want 14 bucks ...
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Latest Review: "Morse, My Deaf Friend" by Milo拧 Djurdjevi膰
The latest addition to our Reviews section is a piece by Vincent Francone on Milo拧 Djurdjevi膰’s Morse, My Deaf Friend, translated by the author and published by Ugly Duckling Presse. The chapbook itself is short鈥攃locking in at 32 pages鈥攁nd is yet another beautiful work of print done by Ugly Duckling. ...
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Morse, My Deaf Friend
There鈥檚 little to say about a series of prose poems that willfully refuse to identify pronoun antecedents. Or perhaps there are a million things. The poems in Morse, My Deaf Friend鈥 the chapbook by Milo拧 Djurdjevi膰 published by Ugly Duckling Presse as part of their Eastern European Poets Series鈥 will be confounding to ...
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Latest Review: "Vano and Niko" by Erlom Akhvlediani
The latest addition to our Reviews section is by Vincent Francone on Vano and Niko by Erlom Akhvlediani, translated by Mikheil Kakabadze and published by Dalkey Archive earlier this year. I know everyone is still reeling from not being able to correctly guess all the finalists for the 2015 BTBA fiction and poetry shortlists ...
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Vano and Niko
What to make of Vano and Niko, the English translation of Erlom Akhvlediani’s work of the same name, as well as the two other short books that comprise a sort of trilogy? Quick searches will inform the curious reader that these short pieces (what contemporary writers would call flash fiction) resemble fables and that ...
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Latest Review: "Return to Killybegs" by Sorj Chalandon
The latest addition to our Reviews section is by Vincent Francone on Return to Killybegs by Sorj Chalandon, translated by Ursula Meany Scott and published by The Lilliput Press. All I have to say before we get to Vince’s review is that “Killybegs” sounds like something one might yell after a pint too many ...
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