Over at Publishers Weekly I interviewed Jane Alison about her latest novel, Nine Island.
I wrote a short essay on Impostor Syndrome for Poor Yorick’s Summer (an Infinite Jest reading group).
I reviewed Thomas Rayfiel’s excellent new novel Genius for the Chicago Review of Books.
Thomas Rayfiel’s <em>Genius</em> Tackles Sexuality, Philosophy, and Cancer
And at Mexico City Lit I wrote a review / appreciation of Carlos Velazquez’s first book in English, The Cowboy Bible.
http://mexicocitylit.com/matt-bucher-reviews-the-cowboy-bible-collage-by-alberto-pazzi/
This week I wrote a piece of MEL magazine about job insecurity.
https://features.wearemel.com/company-loyalty-is-a-myth
Also, I had a brief quote in this New Yorker piece about Infinite Jest.
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/beyond-infinite-jest
Over at Publishers Weekly, I interviewed author Laura Tillman about her new book The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts.
For issue 3 of molossus, I reviewed Luis Felipe Fabre’s poems about Sor Juana.
http://www.molossus.co/the-long-story-of-bad-translations-on-luis-felipe-fabres-monsters/
I was intrigued by this book because I had seen Fabre’s name mentioned in a lot of prominent places but had not read his work. In fact, I saw somewhere on Twitter that Valeria Luiselli called Fabre the best contemporary poet in Mexico (or something along those lines).
This week I wrote a piece of MEL magazine about job insecurity.
https://features.wearemel.com/company-loyalty-is-a-myth
I had a brief quote in this New Yorker piece about Infinite Jest.
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/beyond-infinite-jest
For issue 3 of molossus, I reviewed Luis Felipe Fabre’s poems about Sor Juana.
http://www.molossus.co/the-long-story-of-bad-translations-on-luis-felipe-fabres-monsters/
I was intrigued by this book because I had seen Fabre’s name mentioned in a lot of prominent places but had not read his work. In fact, saw somewhere on Twitter that Valeria Luiselli called Fabre the best contemporary poet in Mexico (or something along those lines).
I recently posted this article about Wes Anderson and Bye Bye Braverman over on simpleranger.net
One thing I didn’t mention there is that Braverman includes a scene filmed at the corner of Eastern Parkway and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. For a while, I lived a block north of there on Bedford. That intersection has changed a lot over the years so it was very cool to see it back in 1968.
You can see the old Town Hill Restaurant in the background.
That Texaco station is long gone.
I also wrote about David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King and the character of Toni Ware over on Medium. The Pale King’s Trailer Park Queen.
A new literary magazine launches today and I’m happy to have contributed a small piece to it. The magazine is called The Scofield and my essay is on David Markson and Twitter. It’s a truly stellar magazine that has assembled a who’s who of writers working on and around David Markson. Keep an eye on The Scofield.
In other news, to support the film The End of the Tour, I wrote this article on “Why David Foster Wallace Matters” for a collection on Medium called “Just Words.”
Also, last month I published this essay on Roberto Bolaño and A Little Lumpen Novelita in the Dublin Review of Books.
Over at the Austin Chronicle, I reviewed this zine from Monofonus Press. It’s a companion piece to Gertrude Stein’s classic Tender Buttons, which turns 100 years old this year.
I’ve also started writing some reviews for Publishers Weekly, but I’m not supposed to reveal which ones I wrote.
I got the chance to sit down and talk with Doug Dorst, author of the book S. (with JJ Abrams), Jill Meyers of A Strange Object, Jodi Egerton, and Wayne Alan Brenner of the Austin Chronicle.
Here’s an excerpt of the conversation:
Bucher: For me, a lot of the book reminded me of Melville.
Brenner: I thought you were kind of tipping your hat with the quote from “Bartleby” in there.
Dorst: Which, there are so many tips of the hat I’ve made – for several different reasons. Because I was invited to write a book-y book, it feels interesting to have a tip-of-the-hat, whether it’s one that I’m putting in and leaving uncommented upon, or having a character make, it all can go in there.
Bucher: And with the authorship thing, you kind of created another one just by having two authors’ names on the front of the book. Have you had people ask you, “So, did JJ write this?” Is there any confusion there?
Dorst: I’m sure there will always be. But actually JJ has been really clear from the beginning, “No, I did not write this – Doug wrote it.”
Bucher: But even saying that, it’s not something normal authors have to say that. “No, I swear I didn’t write this.” I mean, I get what you’re saying, but it’s funny: You’re talking about authorship, and you’re traveling around and you’re on these shows and you’ve got a guy next to you saying “I didn’t write this.”
Dorst: And in some cases I’m not there, and the interviewer is asking JJ if I exist.
I just published an essay on Google Sightseeing about the state of art projects using images from Google Street View. The essay was a long time in the making and I hope to move on now and post more location-specific stuff about Street View.
http://googlesightseeing.com/2013/11/the-past-present-and-future-of-street-view-art/
