http://www.identitytheory.com An online magazine of literature and culture Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:37:00 GMT Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:37:00 GMT en-us editor@identitytheory.com editor@identitytheory.com http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/lydia_millet.php Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:37:00 GMT "The truth is I'm fascinated by the details where different circles of culture overlap and by the manifold ways in which we now treat the profane as the sacred and vice versa." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/lydia_millet.php http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/germanacos_whore.php Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:37:00 GMT A foreign language is a perfect stand-in for a parent: stern but accomodating, solid but flexible. Immense, possibly well-travelled, with non-negotiable limitations that soothe and please as well as enrage. Apparently ageless (but certain to die). Infinitely present. Embracing. Yours. http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/germanacos_whore.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/dixon_chronic_lethem.php Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:37:00 GMT Chronic City can entertain readers and writers who are willing to patiently dissect its meaning and formulate its connections, who happily place ideas and themes on pedestals in whose shadows lurk plot and character. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/dixon_chronic_lethem.php http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/frost_art_women.php Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:37:00 GMT The Curator oversees the acquisitions of new works, takes responsibility for the maintenance of the museum’s holdings, and carefully sculpts the museum’s future with her vision of where Art Is Going. If, as a practical matter, The Curator spends most of her energy enhancing her reputation among the cosmopolitan museum set -- well, so much the better! http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/frost_art_women.php http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/tetsu_index.php Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:37:00 GMT San Francisco-based artist and teacher Wendy Testu discusses her latest project: a labor of love that galvanizes one community around its social and environmental history. http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/tetsu_index.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/truths_matthewgray.php Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:37:00 GMT Interview with Denton, TX musician Matthew Gray of Matthew and the Arrogant Sea on the urge to live raw, dream silly, and decategorize everything. http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/truths_matthewgray.php http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/sosnoski_daughter.php Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:37:00 GMT "Someday we'll be dying, and we'll want someone to be nice to us." http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/sosnoski_daughter.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/major_jackson.php Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:37:00 GMT "There is a period of gestation that leads to a kind of quiet and silence and distance, space. What filters through is what becomes the material for the poem." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/major_jackson.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/von_please_step_back.php Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:37:00 GMT There's a thumping, pulsating bass line suffusing the language of Ben Greenman's newest novel, Please Step Back. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/von_please_step_back.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/truths_miranda_lee_richards.php Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:37:00 GMT Interview with vocalist behind Light of X about her fears, prejudices, and how she believes music can change lives. http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/truths_miranda_lee_richards.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/mccandless_gate.php Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT No one who is a fan of Lorrie Moore, or of coming-of-age novels rich in wit and specificity, should resist reading "A Gate At The Stairs." http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/mccandless_gate.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/dixon_ray.php Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT Consider the f-bomb: you can trace the trajectory of the story’s heart by the elegant deployment of that dexterous cuss word across the pages of Ray of the Star, Laird Hunt’s latest (arguably best, unarguably most emotionally engaging) novel. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/dixon_ray.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/mazer_life.php Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT On a crisp winter afternoon, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the river and, awed by my greatness, lunged in. Unfortunately the water was frozen, so not only did I fall flat onto the ice, but a tiny shard of it pierced my eye, causing severe damage to my retina. Later I was fitted for glasses, which allowed me to better see my reflection before future dives. It looked great. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/mazer_life.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_choir_of_young_believers.php Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT "I think total democracy in bands can sometimes be a bad thing musically." http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_choir_of_young_believers.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/squires_first.php Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT The symmetrical rows of Nazi-planted pine forests click by like the tines of a giant hairbrush. The forest for the trees--a saying that means missing the big picture. Guilty, she thinks. Guilty, guilty, guilty. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/squires_first.php http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/wacker_index.php Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT Artist and wanderlust William Wacker shares images and impressions gathered during his recent tour of Asia, why he needs to catch up on vampire flicks and how, when it comes to art, it's sometimes best to "shoot from the hip." http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/wacker_index.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/ferri_everything_ravaged.php Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT Familial love is a double-edged sword. Loved ones can act as the most essential structure for support, and they can also be the first to break down the very foundation they helped to build. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/ferri_everything_ravaged.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum183.php Mon, 3 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT "The audience, they don't laugh so much as applaud, and what they're applauding is their own recognition of the references, so it's a separate reality that Carlos Castaneda never dreamed of." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum183.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/piepenbring_zeitgeist.php Mon, 3 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT Barely restraining my anger, I made him say the word 'niche' with me. We pronounced the word variously, and he chose his favorite rendition. I then informed him, 'The mainstream is a hallucination. It is the opium dream of plump buffoons and tyrants, who categorically deny the ascendancy of niches.' http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/piepenbring_zeitgeist.php http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/sloan_birthofcool.php Mon, 3 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT I grew up in a wealthy, Westside neighborhood and attended schools dreamt up by former hippies. The city's racial metaphor for me felt like a pot of soup with a nice, chef salad, something casual and light and accompanied by a glass of iced tea. http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/sloan_birthofcool.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/williams_ofsongandwater.php Mon, 3 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT In "Of Song and Water", Joseph Coulson compresses the multigenerational sweep of a family epic into the humble confines of a small novel about middle-aged regret. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/williams_ofsongandwater.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/ellis_hurry.php Mon, 3 Aug 2009 10:37:00 GMT Recently I've read a number of memoirs about the terrible things that can happen to ordinary, well-meaning middle-class parents when their children approach adolescence: their offspring can develop eating disorders, run away, or turn into meth addicts, among countless other horrors. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/ellis_hurry.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/okie_grimes.php Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT "After Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West said that the Bush administration didn't care about black people, but he left out one adjective: poor. America doesn't care about 'poor black people.' If Denzel Washington had been trapped on a rooftop during the flood, he would have been rescued in five minutes." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/okie_grimes.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/christman_lutz.php Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT We have names for writers as forcefully original as Lutz, none of them flattering: at worst, he's pretentious or inaccessible, while at best he's experimental, a word that always makes the reader-in-waiting wonder if it's her patience that's to be experimented upon. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/christman_lutz.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/zaragoza_vinegar.php Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT MuRaList: Yesterday you weren't claiming to have killed someone in your closet. FEEL_gd: Do you feel scared? http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/zaragoza_vinegar.php http://www.identitytheory.com/social/olson_empathy.php Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT Not infrequently, the most convincing testimony to the veracity and potential power of new scientific discoveries is when they're embraced--for profit-driven motives--by corporate America. http://www.identitytheory.com/social/olson_empathy.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/rick_moody.php Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT Author of "The Diviners" http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/rick_moody.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/jensen_updike.php Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT Leave it to the late, great John Updike to offer what is one of the finest meditations on death in recent history. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/jensen_updike.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/robinson_doa.php Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT Mary Robison is really fucking good. Still, I approached this new book with skepticism. Trepidation, even. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/robinson_doa.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/coren_last.php Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT Not long ago, consumption was something you caught rather than did. That was also before summer became a verb and there was no one to haul freshly cut chard up four flights to your door. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/coren_last.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/joe_quirk.php Wed, 1 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT Author of Exult, The Ultimate Rush, and It's Not You, It's Biology: The Science of Love, Sex and Relationships http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/joe_quirk.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/pope_100.php Wed, 1 Jul 2009 10:37:00 GMT "100%" is a love story, after a fashion. Or, more accurately, three loosely connected love stories, all told without so much as a drop of sentimental syrup. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/pope_100.php http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/woan_beijing.php Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:37:00 GMT Grandpa bought the place for cheap back in the sixties, a Communist blessing. Grandpa did good for high-ranking Reds. Black-and-white photographs of him with the Chairman hang where house guests will look. http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/woan_beijing.php http://www.identitytheory.com/verse/spring2009 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:37:00 GMT "For the poet / a tree is the fruit / not the root of poetry. / Origins are unimportant. / Color, shape misleading. / What's lovely is the sound." http://www.identitytheory.com/verse/spring2009 http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/spaide_gasp.php Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:37:00 GMT Somewhere in the inaccessible reaches of my brain a control panel was lighting up, buttons were flashing, bells were ringing, but my feet were nailed to the floorboards of the Last Gasp Hotel. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/spaide_gasp.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/tamim_ansary.php Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:37:00 GMT "The story-like essence, that deep narrative structure, is the thing that is most true about a life. Writers who make up additional facts or change the facts in order to make of their memoirs 'a better story' are breaking faith with the proposition that the story-like essence actually exists." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/tamim_ansary.php http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/jensen_alltheliving.php Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:37:00 GMT The good news about C.E. Morgan's debut novel is that it is not a big, noisy novel where information and sub-plots sprout like weeds on every page. In fact, rather than suffer from an excess of vitality, it might be argued that "All the Living" suffers from a vitality deficiency. http://www.identitytheory.com/lit/jensen_alltheliving.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_midlake.php Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:37:00 GMT "I guess we got into more of this British folk thing and a 'fair maiden' thing as I call it, but I don't think we really sound like these bands, though there is more than a hint of it on the new album." http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_midlake.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/joe_meno.php Tue, 26 May 2009 10:37:00 GMT "I feel like whether you're religious or spiritual or not, I feel like that's probably the most important part to me about being alive is being able to use your imagination. It's really, really sad that there's not enough opportunity." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/joe_meno.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/grinberg_communist.php Thu, 14 May 2009 10:37:00 GMT Though I am definitely myopic, I'm not naïve. I've met Communists in America before today. But not the real ones. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/grinberg_communist.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/nick_nigro.php Tue, 12 May 2009 10:37:00 GMT Author of No Job? No Prob! discusses how to engage in a proactive job search, revamp your resume, and remain optimistic even when the odds are against you. http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/nick_nigro.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/yiyun_li.php Thu, 7 May 2009 10:37:00 GMT "William Trevor influences me more than any other writer, so in reality I write stories to talk to his stories. And a story can talk to another story in many ways--a line, a character, a few details, or sometimes it is the mood of the story, the pacing and the music of the story..." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/yiyun_li.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/ashfeldt_california.php Thu, 7 May 2009 10:37:00 GMT After this, you will leave the chocolate factory for a job on the Kölner-Düsseldorfer Linie bringing American tourists to see castles along the banks of the Rhine. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/ashfeldt_california.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_acamp.php Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:37:00 GMT "Melancholy is not really the right word to describe the mentality. Swedes are more... serene and mellow, and not afraid of the dark, and this is something that I still think is a big part of my personality." http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_acamp.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/vestal_mcintyre.php Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:37:00 GMT "When you're a writer and your creative life involves endless hours alone, thinking, it's good to have a job that involves running around, putting on a friendly face, enjoying the occasional screaming fight with the kitchen guys." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/vestal_mcintyre.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum182.php Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:37:00 GMT "The aestheticization of the politics of ordinary life--of being able to wake up every day and be in a play, in a drama, in a political drama--this is what the 20th century lived for. It is what destroyed civilizations that came before, but...this is what the communists and the Nazis and the fascists were all offering." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum182.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_klum.php Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:37:00 GMT "I assume people don’t really know who is singing what because sometimes we don’t even remember who sings certain parts that are on the record. The most important thing to us is just that it’s good." -Brock Flores http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_klum.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/peter_rock.php Mon, 6 Apr 2009 03:37:00 GMT "I'm stuck back there when a girl skateboarding is the most beautiful thing in the world and any blowing piece of magazine could be a 1976 Playboy." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/peter_rock.php http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/weinstein_noise.php Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:37:00 GMT The problem with the noise was that it silenced the silence. Now, in the spaces between sirens and garbage trucks and screams and shouts and machinery heavy and light, in those places where there should have been silence, there was only more noise. http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/weinstein_noise.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/okie_montgomery.php Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:37:00 GMT "Most people who write need to work on some level. You hear people who teach whine that it destroys their work. I just don’t know there's a good way to support yourself as a writer. I mean, perhaps the best way is to work as a florist, and then write…to be able to focus all your energies [on writing]. It's something I really battle with quite a bit. But I have a perfect situation. I think working for a literary journal is maybe a little different." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/okie_montgomery.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/drugay_curve.php Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:37:00 GMT Jack and Sheila went to the Laidlaw Grill every Friday night for fried perch and Manhattans. They always sat in the Shingle Room, right next to the bar, and especially liked the third booth on the left because the foam-cushion seats were covered with fabric, not plastic like the other booths. Marion, the head waitress, kept an eye on the booth and always made sure to seat the other customers in the plastic booths first, to save the fabric one for Jack and Sheila. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/drugay_curve.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/jon_raymond.php Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:37:00 GMT Jon Raymond is the author of the novel The Half-Life and of the recently published short-story collection Livability. He is also the co-writer of two films directed by Kelly Reichardt, Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy--both adapted from stories in Livability. He is an editor at Plazm magazine, and his writing has appeared in Bookforum, Artforum, Tin House, The Village Voice, and other publications. He lives in Portland, Oregon. http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/jon_raymond.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/barker_crow.php Wed, 4 Mar 2009 03:37:00 GMT I was handed over to a boy called Glen, who I didn't know. Glen had stayed behind last year when the other boys in his class had come to Sydney. I winced at him. He had hair like wheat, and he wore a checked shirt instead of a school uniform. I felt duped. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/barker_crow.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/isaacman_hole.php Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:37:00 GMT I live in the basement underneath a house where everything has changed. Bugs crawl in through the open window, and on the carpet. Once I found a slug making its way up the wall; I put him in a cup and set him free in the backyard where the dogs do their business. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/isaacman_hole.php http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/bauman_father.php Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:37:00 GMT Entwined contemplations of author Chris Hedges (War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning) and former ad-man Bruce Bauman, and their respective relationships to this essay’s author (a ne’er-do-well novelist and ex-soldier); one poem by Gerald Stern and that poet’s perceptions of God and Paul Giamatti; the writing process of an older book by Hedges (wherein there be soldiers) and the contents of a more recent book by Hedges (wherein there be Fascists); Ocean City, New Jersey tongue-talkers who later go on to become hosts of the 700 Club; what it means to be a born-again Episcopalian Jew; Ralph Nader's time in the army; and trying quite unsuccessfully to stop the war in Iraq. http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/bauman_father.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/foster_eye.php Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:37:00 GMT The ramshackle farmhouse on Taggart Road held two Witts, three LeClairs, and one Belmont. Kyle, Hannah, Jessie, Monique, Darren, and Sadie, ages 16, 14, 11, 10, 6, and 2. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/foster_eye.php http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/curran_interview.php Wed, 4 Feb 2009 03:37:00 GMT Philadelphia-based painter Joan Curran creates urban still lives inspired by the interaction between humans and nature--a constantly fluctuating relationship that reveals both beauty and excess. http://www.identitytheory.com/visual/curran_interview.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/kaufman_project.php Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:37:00 GMT I remember the day he was conceived. The day Lily said, "Today's the day." She actually said that, "Today's the day." We hadn't heard about your organization yet, what you do. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/kaufman_project.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/mack_voyeur.php Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:37:00 GMT "We both know how to manipulate the public. Let's play the game." http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/mack_voyeur.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_uncleowen.php Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:37:00 GMT "My music really is like a journal, so as soon as I know my feeling or idea has been documented, the song is done. It's so fast and introspective that I forget about the rules." http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_uncleowen.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/rohan_tangled.php Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:37:00 GMT Jim leaned across the dark cherry desk, accepting the prescription like it was a snotty tissue. He struggled up from the leather chair, a bitter taste flooding his mouth. He was still reeling from the shock. His tests had all come back negative. They hadn't found a single thing wrong. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/rohan_tangled.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/ayres_dinner.php Tue, 6 Jan 2009 03:37:00 GMT I knew if I ever got my act together, I could write poetry about Renee. I knew I could feel the heightened energy and will of that skin and put it all into words. She made me think of Byron's Don Juan and Henry Miller at his raunchiest. Who couldn't live with a healthy combination of both? http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/ayres_dinner.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/bates_how.php Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:37:00 GMT After listening to her new album, "Silence is Wild," it is impossible not to feel that Frida has genuinely revealed herself, leaving the listener feeling slightly awkward, and highly impressed. http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/bates_how.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_frida.php Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:37:00 GMT After listening to her new album, "Silence is Wild," it is impossible not to feel that Frida has genuinely revealed herself, leaving the listener feeling slightly awkward, and highly impressed. http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_frida.php http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/perez_dollstalk.php Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:37:00 GMT I was eighteen years old when my daughter, Belinda, was born--a kid having a kid. I didn't see myself as a kid, of course. That understanding came later. http://www.identitytheory.com/nonfiction/perez_dollstalk.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum181.php Wed, 1 Oct 2008 03:37:00 GMT "I am even more persuaded than I was ten years ago that governments are essentially rotten and not to be trusted. To put it another way, the anarchist distrust for government—as more history parades itself before us, the more events come into our view—the anarchist distrust of government seems to me more and more legitimate." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum181.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/okie_midnightoil.php Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:37:00 GMT From the first rumblings of the opening riff--the brassy stomp of "Beds Are Burning" (i.e., the now-famous duh, duh, du-u-uh!)--I became stupid with goosebumps. My heart pounded like some long-extinct herd. And for the first time in my rock-n-roll life, I felt my very aliveness... http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/okie_midnightoil.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_miatodd.php Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:37:00 GMT "I like to listen to the arc of a record, like reading a book from start to finish. I make records that way." http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_miatodd.php http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_boniver.php Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:37:00 GMT "With all your lies, you're still very lovable" http://www.identitytheory.com/audio/alw_boniver.php http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/katz_under.php Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:37:00 GMT "His eyes, my Andere Vater's eyes, they would hurt so much, but he kept smiling, never frowning, never complaining." http://www.identitytheory.com/fiction/katz_under.php http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/okie_diaz.php Tue, 2 Sep 2008 03:37:00 GMT "But I do think that because we're sort of 'living in the Matrix,' we have this hunger for truth and fact because we know these things are important--and we’ve abdicated truth and fact in the larger society--so we’re just projecting our need for them onto other areas. I just think that fiction, like many other areas, is being asked to carry the burden for a society that no longer wants to confront itself." http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/okie_diaz.php