In our afternoon reading: an interview with Caroline Bergvall, looking back on a high-profile literary feud, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Dave Haslam’s Memoir, Mairead Case Nonfiction, Djuna Barnes, Caroline Bergvall Interviewed, and More
In our afternoon reading: thoughts on Dave Haslam’s memoir, new nonfiction by Mairead Case, the VIDA Count for 2017, and more.
Weekend Bites: Garth Greenwell, Brian Evenson Fiction, Ferrante’s Translator, Writers on David Bowie, and More
In our weekend reading: a look at Garth Greenwell’s new novel, new fiction from Brian Evenson, authors remember David Bowie, and more.
Caroline Bergvall’s “Drift,” in Gallery Form
A couple of weeks ago, I read Caroline Bergvall’s Drift, and had one of the most jaw-dropping reading experiences I’ve had in the last few months. If Bergvall’s book were a collection of prose poems, or a meditation on language and its limits, or a nonfiction work documenting national tragedies on the water, it would be hugely effective; instead, it’s all three, a poetic and freeform work that’s both associative and documentarian.
#tobyreads: Adrift, in Words and Games
I spent a little time in Nantucket about two years ago. I remember the ferry trip out and back; I remember mist and crowds on the island. It was early December; it was cold, and the sky over the island looked strange. I thought about the water and the island a lot when I was reading Caroline Bergvall’s Drift. I thought about that and I thought about Iceland and I thought about accounts I’d read of refugees and travelers in jeopardy […]