Franz Wright, Rick Moody, Tony Kushner, and more...

REVIEWS: POETRY

The Beforelife
Franz Wright
This new collection puts the reader on the precipice of silence, the only true position from which to observe such desolate beauty. Reviewed by Dobby Gibson

Poemas/Poems
Gerardo Deniz
translated by Monica de la Torre
Come face-to-face with the Spanish grotesque in these breathtaking poems by the pseudonymous Deniz, available for the first time to English speakers. Reviewed by John Olson

Musca Domestica
Christine Hume
In Hume's award-winning first book, a common household fly provides the inspiration for dizzying linguistic feats, musicality, and lyrical landscapes. Reviewed by Laura Solomon

The Contagion of Matter
Valerio Magrelli
translated by Anthony Molino
An essential Italian poet, Magrelli's bleak vision of contemporary Italy enhances the general existential condition of man, "rooted in the void." Reviewed by Robert Zaller

Guru Punk
Louise Landes Levi
Travel inside the mind of this exultant, erotic, and defiant Jewish poet, and you'll never be the same again. Reviewed by Michael Perkins

The Oomph of Quicksilver
Michael Davitt
edited by Louis de Paor
With poems selected from seven major collections, Irish poet Davitt's new book is quite the cause célèbre. Reviewed by Thomas Rain Crowe

Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry
edited by Gary Mex Glazner
Say what you like about poetry slams—they're here to stay. This new anthology mixes the good with the bad. Reviewed by Sean Thomas Dougherty

The Pillar of Fire
Nikolay Gumilyov
& Selected Poems
Nikolay Zabolotsky
The Russians always seem to do it bigger and better than us. These early 20th Century poets prove it. Reviewed by Christopher Mattison

REVIEWS: DRAMA

Death & Taxes: Hydriotaphia & Other Plays
Tony Kushner
The famous playwright responsible for Angels in America offers a collection of shorter works that stimulate and delight. Reviewed by Justin Maxwell

REVIEWS: PHOTOGRAPHY

Walker Evans: The Lost Work
& Unclassified: The Walker Evans Anthology
Walker Evans
Two extraordinary new books flesh out the long career of the prolific and observant photographer of the American experience. Reviewed by Kelly Everding

REVIEWS: FICTION

Demonology
Rick Moody
A collection remarkable for the ground it covers, both formally and emotionally, Demonology shows why Rick Moody is one of the great prose stylists of his generation. Reviewed by Eric Lorberer

Liberty's Excess
Lidia Yuknavitch
Yuknavitch's language explodes off the page in this new collection of stories—so stand back and brace yourself. Reviewed by Jeremy Russell

The House of Gentle Men
Kathy Hepinstall
Discover the disturbing and luminous world of 1940s Louisiana where life in the bordello takes a strange turn. Reviewed by Kiersten Marek

Head
William Tester
It doesn't matter whose head you're occupying at the moment—get inside Tester's Head and feel the electric current of chewy language and divine grace. Reviewed by Kelly Everding

The Fox from Up Above and the Fox from Down Below
José Maria Arguedas
The moving posthumous novel and diary entries of this neglected Peruvian writer is, in effect, an apologia for his suicide in 1969. Reviewed by Peter Ritter

Not A Chance
Jessica Treat
No one in real life could be as delusional or insane as the characters in this collection of short stories, or could they? You be the judge. Reviewed by Rebecca Weaver

REVIEWS: NONFICTION

Sixty Years of Arkham House
compiled by S. T. Joshi
Created in order to publish the fiendish imaginings of H.P. Lovecraft, Arkham House continues to release horror and weird fiction, much to the delight of fanatics of the supernatural everywhere. Reviewed by Kris Lawson

Translating the Unspeakable: Poetry and the Innovative Necessity
Kathleen Fraser
Not to be tamed, Fraser describes the arc of her poetic experience and development in the eighteen essays collected in this remarkable book. Reviewed by Charles Alexander

From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the present
Jacques Barzun
Bored? Tackle this hefty new book in which Barzun traces the dominant trends in cultural history, many of them spurred by that pesky ennui. Reviewed by Eric Iannelli

Narrow Road to the Deep North
Katherine McNamara
Follow the experiences of poet McNamara as she details her own odyssey in search of living culture in the harsh Alaskan landscape. Reviewed by Jason Fischbach

The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception
Emmanuel Carrére
What would you do if your friend and neighbor of twenty years up and killed his family? They say he was the nicest guy . . . Reviewed by Josie Rawson