Tags
A Writer's Life, Adrienne Rich, Any Other Name, Deal Me In Reading Challenge, Deborah Eisenberg, Electric Literature tumblr, Ellen Moody, Foremother Friday, Free Comic Book Day, From the Women's Canon, Muriel Rukeyser, NPR interview, Reading the Short Story blog, Ron Hogan, Short Story Month, The Millions, Twilight of the Superheroes, Women's Poetry List-Serv
The New Novel (1877) by Winslow Homer
For those of you following the blog, you’ll remember that I mentioned the Women’s Poetry List-Serv as the inspiration for “Foremother Fridays”. The wonderful Ellen Moody started the practice there and has put together an extensive library of archived postings at the dedicated website, From the Women’s Canon: Foremother Poets.
I’d like to refer you to two of her write-ups in lieu of an original poetry posting, and then we will move on to a foremother of the short story form.
Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980) Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)
For fans of the comic genre, tomorrow is a big day with free giveaways and a smorgasbord of activities at independent comic stores all over the country. While Deborah Eisenberg doesn’t really dabble in the genre, her short story collection, Twilight of the Superheroes takes some of the sheen off the superhero ideal and has a rocking comic-esque cover. The collection won the PEN/Faulkner award in 2007 and revolves around a cast of the confused and hurting in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. Just the kind of dark, gritty thing for a bright May weekend!
But if y
ou’d rather not shell out the funds for the book, you can read her story, “Your Duck is My Duck,” at the Electric Literature Recommended Reading Tumblr or “The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor” at the NPR archives. And do check out her Art of Fiction (no.218) interview with Catherine Steindler (of the Paris Review), as well as the A Writer’s Life piece at the Telegraph and the Beatrice interview with Rob Hogan for more on her views about short fiction and the writing process.
And last but not least, find out more about her life and views on society and justice at The Millions’ Reality Squared profile.
Then if you’re still looking to round out your Deal Me In Playlist, consult Reading the Short Story blog’s favorite collections for ideas on where to glean.
Some of the exercises look really interesting, and they have big names like Neil Gaiman contributing, but I am not sure that the pace is something I can maintain. I prefer to take story writing much slower, but am always up for a dose of good reading.
