Online Edition: FALL 2007
Welcome to the Fall 2007 Online Edition of Rain Taxi Review of Books.
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Interviews
Talking into Being
the complete interview with Michael Hardt
Excerpted in the Fall 2007 print edition, Leonard Schwartz’s interview with Empire philosopher Michael Hardt is now offered in it entirety here.
Thailand & Ghosts
an interview with John Burdett
Burdett, creator of three arresting novels set in Bangkok featuring the unforgettable detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, discusses his take on the unique culture of Thailand.
by Wipanan Chaichanta
Features
Hero Epics Then and Now
by Eric Lorberer
Lorberer explores the roots of the superhero epic with the release of two volumes of Jack Kirby's 1970s Fourth World comics series, comparing it to a new epic on the scene, 52.
Reviews
POETRY
A Transparent Lion
Attila József
József’s reputation as Hungary’s greatest 20th-century poet extends far beyond his homeland and his time, as this exceptional collection of his poems reveals. —reviewed by John Bradley
Apostrophe
Bill Kennedy and Darren Wershler-Henry
Apostrophe offers an absorbing, almost hypnotic, expanse of found sentences from the Internet, all of which begin with “you are.” —reviewed by Holly Dupej
a half-red sea
Evie Shockley
In her first full-length collection, the poet presents public and private histories through a series of narratives, lyrical monologues, fantastic episodes, and imagined dialogues. —reviewed by Nancy Kuhl
We Are Here
Niels Hav
This slim, respectably translated selection of poems into English represents an award-winning Danish poet at his mildly quirky and wryly humorous best. —reviewed by Poul Houe
Citizen Of
Christian Hawkey
Hawkey sustains his second collection of poetry with a wit that emerges from the contemporary bog of poetic near-humor.—reviewed by Samuel Amadon
Pepper Spray
Paul Martínez Pompa
&
The Night Tito Trinidad KO’ed Ricardo Mayorga
Kevin A. González
Momotombo Press presents two explosive poetry collections from emerging Latino writers. —reviewed by Craig Santos
FICTION
Death of a Murderer
Rupert Thomson
In Thomson’s latest novel, storylines sprout, self-delusions fester, and interpretations tangle with ambiguities. —reviewed by Matthew Cheney
Crooked Little Vein
Warren Ellis
Ellis’s dark reworking of America mixes absurd fantasies with real horrors, though this prose novel falls short of the truly nightmarish. —reviewed by Spencer Dew
Part of the World
Robert Lopez
Lopez explores the mundanity of life in this mesmerizing, Beckettian, and irresistible novel. —reviewed by Blake Butler
Russian Lover and Other Stories
Jana Martin
The women of these stories use whatever they have available to survive the dangerous world Martin concocts. —reviewed by Spencer Dew
Then We Came to the End
Joshua Ferris
In his debut novel, Ferris provides a uniquely concentrated expression of what it feels like to work in an office. —reviewed by Lucy Biederman
NONFICTION
How Sassy Changed My Life
A Love Letter To The Greatest Teen Magazine Of All Time
Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer
If a work of art says to us (as Rilke put it) “You must change your life,” does any published writing that has changed our lives count as a work of art? If so, Sassy has a durable claim. —reviewed by Stephen Burt
You’ll Be Okay
My Life with Jack Kerouac
Edie Kerouac-Parker
Kerouac-Parker’s new memoir is a warm, intimate, and colorful portrait of the embryonic journey of Jack Kerouac, whose seminal novel On the Road celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.—reviewed by Mark Terrill
Phyllis Webb and the Common Good
Poetry/Anarchy/Abstraction
Stephen Collis
Poet, broadcaster, public intellectual, recluse, artist—Phyllis Webb has been appearing, and disappearing, from public life for more than half a century, and Collis avoids any attempt to pin down this elusive poet.—reviewed by Kate Eichhorn
VACUM ATTACHMENT
Axial Stones
An Art of Precarious Balance
George Quasha
Quasha’s extraordinary sculptures place natural stones in a state of breathtakingly improbable balance.—reviewed by Deborah Karasov
Christian Boltanski: Time
edited by Ralf Beil
In this catalogue of stirring work, Boltanski explores the failure of family memory through a collection of WWII photographs of lost and displaced children.—reviewed by Jan Estep
Ann Hamilton: An Inventory of Objects
edited by Joan Simon
Alluring in both form and content, this collection investigates the nearly two decades of object-making by Hamilton, who is recognized more widely for her site-responsive and often temporary installations.—reviewed by Mason Riddle
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Rain Taxi Online Edition, Spring 2007 | © Rain Taxi, Inc. 2007