Category: Essay

Essay

The Pros and Cons of Lydia Davis’ “Stance” on Amazon

Described as “one of the most original minds in American fiction today” (not exactly a difficult feat, but anyway…), Lydia Davis is known for something of an irascible, curmudgeonly tone (at least in print). This much was encapsulated in the title of her 2013 short story collection, Can’t and Won’t. As for the latest thing Davis “can’t” and “won’t” do, it’s sell her book on … Continue reading The Pros and Cons of Lydia Davis’ “Stance” on Amazon

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Essay

On Submission Fees and the Publishers Are Pirates Belief That’s Currently Trending

It’s funny how “the universe” can sometimes make you feel like it gives enough of a shit about you to tailor schadenfreude at your expense. I say this because only this year, seven years after starting The Opiate, I decided to implement a two-dollar submission fee, from which I get $1.64 and then still have to pay a monthly fee in order to use the … Continue reading On Submission Fees and the Publishers Are Pirates Belief That’s Currently Trending

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Essay

There’s Being A Literary Snob And There’s Being A Cunt (Or Rather, A Scrotum)

It’s accurate to say that we don’t live in the most literate of times (no, #BookTok doesn’t count). Any expectation on someone to know what can reasonably be viewed as an “esoteric” reference outside of 2004, when Reese Witherspoon starred in the Mira Nair-directed adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, isn’t exactly realistic. But to a quintessential British/literary snob like Hugh Grant, it ostensibly … Continue reading There’s Being A Literary Snob And There’s Being A Cunt (Or Rather, A Scrotum)

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Essay

From Blacksmith to East Palestine: Don DeLillo Isn’t A Prophet, Just a Realist

Like something out of the film adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, it seems that Don DeLillo’s White Noise has the power to make the plot points on the page come to life in 2023. More specifically, that plot point about the train derailment near Blacksmith. A fictional town in (you guessed it) Ohio, where White Noise’s protagonist, Jack Gladney, works as … Continue reading From Blacksmith to East Palestine: Don DeLillo Isn’t A Prophet, Just a Realist

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Essay

“A Veritable Minefield of Malapropisms”: Benoit Blanc Dares to Say, in the Current Climate, That Misuse of Language Equates to Idiocy

Because of The Times We Live In, there are a great many things one might shy away from uttering aloud. Lest the real-life Thought Police, who haven’t yet been able to infiltrate the mind, call one out for being offensive, affronting and generally wrong as a person. Among such potential offenses is indicating, in any way, that someone who misuses language is, well, a bit … Continue reading “A Veritable Minefield of Malapropisms”: Benoit Blanc Dares to Say, in the Current Climate, That Misuse of Language Equates to Idiocy

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Essay

There Is Absolutely No Empathy For the Writer When It Comes to Construction Work Infecting Their Space

I don’t know how it always seems to happen to me. I find myself in a living condition where, out of nowhere, the building will suddenly “require” (as if) some massive overhaul on its exterior. The kind of overhaul where the coterie of workers is staring you directly in the face right outside the window, liable to make lewd gestures if you look back for … Continue reading There Is Absolutely No Empathy For the Writer When It Comes to Construction Work Infecting Their Space

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Essay

Adele Getting A Degree in English Literature on a Whim As It Correlates to Higher Education Being a Privilege of the Rich

Like working out regularly, as Adele does, getting an education in something you actually enjoy (as opposed to something you’re doing with the “I have to make money after this” mindset) is yet another privilege of the rich. Although it long has been, it seems with each passing year, once “basic” things, such as a implementing a fitness routine and pursuing an education in something … Continue reading Adele Getting A Degree in English Literature on a Whim As It Correlates to Higher Education Being a Privilege of the Rich

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Essay

Demolition Man Imagined the Censored, Sexless Future As Much As Nineteen-Eighty Four

Although George Orwell’s most indelible novel (for the average person), Nineteen Eighty-Four, is held up as the ultimate masterwork on how repressing people to the point of docile muteness will lead to nothing but, well, collective bovine stupidity, there exists another “tome,” if you will, on the matter. And it is Marco Brambilla’s 1993 movie, Demolition Man. Released the same year as Last Action Hero, it was theoretically … Continue reading Demolition Man Imagined the Censored, Sexless Future As Much As Nineteen-Eighty Four

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Essay

Maybe The Only “Good” Thing About The Attack on Rushdie Is That It Proves Literature Still Has Power… Or Not, Since It Only Does If You “Speak Ill” of a Very Particular Subject

Salman Rushdie’s August 12th stabbing in “idyllic” Chautauqua, New York brought up many emotions for those with enthusiasm for literature (and even those without it). Or, more accurately, the freedom of speech element it champions. On the one hand, there is something “encouraging” about the fact that the power of someone’s words in novel form could hold such weight. On the other, that it took … Continue reading Maybe The Only “Good” Thing About The Attack on Rushdie Is That It Proves Literature Still Has Power… Or Not, Since It Only Does If You “Speak Ill” of a Very Particular Subject

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Essay

Why Marilyn Monroe and Sylvia Plath Go Hand in Hand

On what marks the sixtieth anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death (a suicide, an accident or a murder, depending on who you ask), there seems to be more interest than ever in the icon that captivated the world and incited a sexual awakening within a repressed American culture. From Kim Kardashian effectively dancing on Marilyn’s corpse by forcing her ass to squeeze into the Jean Louis … Continue reading Why Marilyn Monroe and Sylvia Plath Go Hand in Hand

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