Jalal Toufic, Gerrit Lansing, Rick Bragg, and more...

INTERVIEWS

Jalal Toufic
Interviewed by Aaron Kunin
Turning the very notion of the interview on its head, Toufic speaks to the unparaphraseable and uncategorizable works he's created.

ESSAYS

The Metaphysics of Gerrit Lansing
The poet Gerrit Lansing "demands the full participation of the world-creating power of the imagination," but is it at the expense of nature? Essay by Robert Baker

REVIEWS: FICTION

Yonder Stands Your Orphan
Barry Hannah
Set in a secluded lake resort town populated by complicated Southern folks, this new novel revisits characters from previous Hannah stories. Reviewed by Brian Beatty

The Impossibly
Laird Hunt
Why would you kill? Why would you love? Everyone's got an assignment in this engaging debut, a strange and funny avant-noir thriller. Reviewed by Kelly Everding

The Center of Things
Jenny McPhee
Physics becomes a metaphor for the chaos of life and love in this first novel by the daughter of renowned essayist John McPhee. Reviewed by Rumaan Alam

The Procedure
Harry Mulisch
translated by Paul Vincent
Let this be a warning to those who would attempt to play God! Reviewed by Jason Picone

REVIEWS: POETRY

Nova
Standard Schaefer
Winner of the National Poetry Series, Nova is "chock-a-block with boys' stuff" as it seeks to reconcile the father figure in a new kind of Jargon Poetry. Reviewed by Jeffrey Julich

Shake Hands
Carl Thayler
Thayler has contributed to poetry for the last 30 years and presents, in this new book of poems, "a more personal and painful acknowledgement of the lonely American West." Reviewed by Reno Lauro

Time and Again: Poems 1940-1997
Edwin Honig
At times bitter, at times filled with metaphysical hope, Honig's collected poetry spans a lifetime dedicated to the form. Reviewed by Henry Gould

The Weather
Lisa Robertson
The weather is a condition, an atmosphere, a reflector, a manner of addressing the space--language chasing language chasing thought. Reviewed by Jen Hofer

REVIEWS: NONFICTION

Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña
David Hajdu
& Song and Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan
Michael Gray
Go from gossip to the nitty gritty in these two new books that orbit folk superstar Bob Dylan. Reviewed by Chris Fischbach

An Argentine Passion: María Luisa Bemberg and Her Films
edited by John King, Sheila Whitaker, & Rosa Bosch
A useful primer to the life and films of María Luisa Bemberg, who devoted her work to questioning authoritarianism and sexism prevalent in Latin America and the world. Reviewed by Brian Aurand

Ava's Man
Rick Bragg
The Depression in Appalachia is rendered in resonant detail in this homey reminiscence of Bragg's grandfather, from whom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author learned "the good and the bad." Reviewed by Jonathan Shipley

Who Killed Classical Music?: Maestros, Managers, and Corporate Politics
Norman Lebrecht
The backstage machinations of the Classical Music world are exposed in this feisty essay. Reviewed by Richard Kostelanetz

Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter's Life With Autism
Clara Clairborne Park
A poignant memoir by a mother of Jessy, an autistic young woman who approaches her difficult life with humor and beauty. Reviewed by Thomas P. Kalb

People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee "Scratch" Perry
David Katz
Learn about the "Salvador Dali of reggae music" in this highly researched biography of Lee Perry, approved and endorsed by "Scratch" himself! Reviewed by Mark Terrill