An Egyptian in Paris
Andrew Gallix remembers Albert Cossery, who died last month: All his life, Cossery sided with those he felt God had forgotten: petty thieves, pretty prostitutes, exploited workers and hungry vagrants. He despised materialism and eschewed the rat race. In Proud Beggars (1955), usually considered his masterpiece, a university professor finds peace of mind by becoming […]
Johnny, Remember Me
It was a seething song of unrequited lust. ‘All Shook Down’ was mine and I gotta admit, it was my attempt to get that voodoo beat from Gene Vincent’s ‘Cat Man’ nailed down, while Johnny spun around it a list of physical afflictions that assailed him once he’d spotted a swell looking dame. He shivered and shaked, shimmied and quaked, and the girls all screamed their lungs out with approval when he did it.
By Cathi Unsworth.
Bakersfield Synchronicity
The woman must have been three hundred pounds; pregnant, acne-ridden with thick red glasses, and chain smoking. The man only two hundred, maybe two-fifty; bald, genial, wrestling fanatic, chain smoker. Her name was Julie and I think his name was Kurt or Larry or something. Their story went something like this; She had a huge trust fund from her family and he delivered newspapers for a living. I think he was only engaged to her for her money. She smoked while pregnant because she had done it before and it never hurt the baby, even though her first had ended up dying later.
By Barrett Dylan Brown.
Between the supermarket and the kitchen sink
“I think my writing is most influenced by ‘K-Mart Realism’ though also it has been influenced by ‘Tea Towel Fiction’.” Tao Lin writes on “K-Mart Realism” over at This Recording, and offers a “K-Mart Realism” reading list: “K-Mart Realism” was at its “height” maybe in the mid to late-80’s. Frederick Barthelme had 20-30 stories published […]