Thoughts on Morrissey’s autobiography; Dan Bejar and Sheila Heti have collaborated on a musical; the art of American malls; and more.
Revisiting Numbers and Documenting Atlantic City: A Between Books Interview with Joshua Cohen
Over the past few years, Joshua Cohen has steadily amassed a staggeringly impressive body of work. His criticism appeared in Harper’s; Four New Messages, his collection of novellas, earned rave reviews for its deft prose and bravura displays of nested storytelling, and his novel Witz was both dense and dreamlike, evoking centuries-old imagery and New Jersey rest stops in equal measure. All of which begs the question of what’s next for Cohen — one that I sought to answer via this interview.
Afternoon Bites: Lydia Millet Talks YA, Chickfactor’s Top 10, Cinematic James Salter, and More
Lydia Millet shares her favorite YA series. Christopher Higgs’s holiday gift guide at HTML Giant is pretty terrific. Lauren Cerand on James Salter’s Three. If you like smart pop music, Chickfactor has some top ten lists for you. Our own Jen Vafidis talks Jane Jacobs at Guernica. James Wood had some nice things to say about Joshua Cohen’s Four New Messages. The folks behind Rust Belt Chic talked to WKSU. (We’ll be hosting them at Public Assembly on January 3rd.) Follow Vol. 1 […]
Afternoon Bites: Joshua Cohen on Atlantic City, Shellac Book Club, Etgar Keret on Janet Frame, and More
Joshua Cohen’s essay on Atlantic City after Hurricane Sandy is excellent reading. There’s a terrific Victor LaValle interview at Days of Yore. Here’s a review of the Los Angeles production of the Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots musical. Emma Straub and the Magnetic Fields sang “Que Sera Sera.” The National and Shellac’s ATP book club choices. Paul DiFillippo on Iain M. Banks’s Hydrogen Sonata and space opera. Etgar Keret would like to recommend a Janet Frame story to you. Matt Zoller […]
Technological Reveries and Authorial Trust: Joshua Cohen’s “Four New Messages,” Reviewed
Four New Messages by Joshua Cohen Graywolf Press; 208 p. I hesitate to say anything concrete about Joshua Cohen’s new book of somewhat short stories. 4 New Messages contains four new stories that require more than a thorough first read. In fact like many other dense, complex, even avant-garde authors, Cohen’s new book requires numerous readings simply to pin down the plot before we can even discuss his novel use of language or the larger themes and value of this […]
Indexing: Summer of Cohen, Coming-of-age Books, Wharton in Europe, Nitehawk and More
A roundup of things consumed by our contributors.
Morning Bites: New Orleans Krew, What Sasha Frere-Jones Reads, Cohen’s Pushcart, and More
Adam Chandler at The Atlantic on the “amorphous, leaderless collection of New Orleans artists, activists, and anarchists,” Krewe of Eris. Wishing that President Obama truly was one of those European socialists that Republicans claim he is at The New Republic. Months after the release of Pulphead, we still love reading interviews with John Jeremiah Sullivan. Joshua Cohen won a Pushcart Prize. Big mazels. So you were wondering what Sasha Frere-Jones likes to read… Largehearted Boy gets Seth Greenland’s Book Notes for The Angry Buddhist. […]
Indexing: Lexicon Valley, Revisiting Joshua Cohen, Renner Recommended, Misfit Movies, and More
Jen Vafidis If by anything, this week has been overwhelmed by the Slate Lexicon Valley podcast (Car Talk for word nerds!) and Julia Holter’s latest album, Ekstasis. I blame the weather in New York, which was way more conducive to headphones and walks than coffee and armchairs.