NewPages Blog

Seneca Review has an interview series with essayists on the subject of the essay form and on the essays of theirs that have run in the publication. The interviews are an online exclusive, not published in the print journal, and the essays from the print publication are included.

According to Seneca Review Editor David Weiss and Lyric Essay Editor John D’Agata: “Our aim is to create an archive of ideas about the essay and the working aesthetics and practice of writers we’re publishing, writers who are exploring the reaches of the essay form. We’d like, as well, to create an environment for discussion.”

So far, the website includes the following essayist interviews:

Volume 38, No. 2
An Interview with Aaron Kunin by Tom Fleischmann
An Interview with Stephen Kuusisto by Ryan Van Meter
An Interview with Brian Christian by Tom Fleischmann

Volume 38, No. 1
An Interview with Thalia Field by Ashley Butler, Tom Fleischmann, April Freeley and Riley Hanick

Where I Write: Fantasy & Science Fiction Authors in Their Creative Spaces

The Hugo Awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, first awarded in 1953 and every year since 1955, are run by and voted on by fans and are awarded each year at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).

•Best Novel: The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK)
•Best Novella: “The Erdmann Nexus”, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008)
•Best Novelette: “Shoggoths in Bloom”, Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)
•Best Short Story: “Exhalation”, Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
•Best Related Book: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)
•Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
•Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director (Pixar/Walt Disney)
•Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon, & Maurissa Tancharoen, writers; Joss Whedon, director (Mutant Enemy)
•Best Editor Short Form: Ellen Datlow
•Best Editor Long Form: David G. Hartwell
•Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
•Best Semiprozine: Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal
•Best Fan Writer: Cheryl Morgan
•Best Fanzine: Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
•Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu

And the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines): David Anthony Durham

I can only imagine Robert Day must have been (still is even after retirement 2007?) some sort of fixture at Washington College, and how lucky both must have been. I got a hold of his book, The ABCs of Enlightenment: Essays on Teaching and Learning after having mentioned a piece of his in a review of World Literature Today. Robert wrote to me: “No good deed goes unpunished” and had the book sent along with a corresponding poster of the ABCs. More on that later.

The book itself is a slim volume, readable within a week’s worth of bus rides to campus. It’s simple but beautiful, having been produced by the Literary House Press of Washington College – part of the Rose O’Neill Literary House, both of which Robert is founder. The book is a collection of essays that had originally been commissioned by and appeared in print newspapers, and all are indeed expressions of enlightenment, as well as enlightening. It’s one of those kinds of books you read and feel your mind swirling off into another realm, the coming back down as the bus comes to your stop a bit unnerving, walking away still feeling a little floaty in thought.

The first essay, “Tales Out of School,” takes Day’s work with the press into perspective with his teaching. He recounts several different times and places, encounters that have stayed with him through these years, tales he tells interspersed with his work at the press with Mike Kaylor, then master printer. One of my favorite “tales” is an encounter he has with a young woman student who tells him she wants to be poet, but doesn’t “want to be influenced by poets.” She doesn’t read poetry, and doesn’t want to, but wants Day to read her poetry (in spiral bound notebooks). His advice to her ends with: “Go now. Write more poems. But show them to no one – not even me – lest I steal the purity of your vision. Be unique and stay by yourself. Very much by yourself.” It’s brilliantly funny, and bold, but is told to balance, or perhaps mask, a seemingly humiliating story he won’t tell, about the time he ‘badly advised’ Bob Shacochis. Each of the ‘tales’ is like this, a bit raw to read, but each a connection that can be made to those of us who have been in the teaching trenches and have those stories to tell, and those we won’t.

“Print It as It Stands – Beautifully,” is even more directly about Day’s work in the press and what it means to him both as a writer and a teacher. How different the press is vs. the computer screen. It was funny to read about how he works with students at the press, has them printing poetry broadsides which none of them then want to write on when they bring them to class to study and discuss the poetry. I felt exactly the same way in reading this volume, so many times wanting to pen notes in the margins, but something about the beauty of the pages stopped me every time. There is something fascinating and romantic about the workings of a letterpress, as Day explains: “The letterpress requires that you spend time with letters, with the type used to represent words, with the whole nine yards, as the students say. I wonder if it makes words worth more to the student who sets them in type than to the student who, like myself at this moment, flashes them onto a computer screen.”

Other essays in the collection include Day’s encounter with Allen Ginsberg who had come to Washington College to read: “Allen Ginsberg Levitates Chestertown” – in which Ginsberg leads a group of Ohm-chanting students and townspeople (complete with finger cymbals and guitar) to levitate the city jail. “Famous Education” considers the Sophie Kerr Prize – what happens to the “other half” of the money, and more over, whatever becomes of those who win – do they become famous?

The title essay, “The ABCs of Enlightenment” is an A-Z essay of commentary from Day’s decades of teaching. As he writes, if he were to give a talk to his opening freshman class that was “more of a general talk on how to get a generous education – not just from professors and classes, but from the college at large, and for yourself in particular,” it would be from his “alphabet of notes.” This particular essay was also reprinted in a poster form – from the Literary House Press. I was fortunate enough to receive this gorgeous work of art – and wish I could tell readers how to get a hold of one, but am not sure if they are still available. I’d say contact the press if you were interested. The alphabet is indeed enlightening as well as enjoyable to read, with plenty of cross referencing that is entertaining in itself. A couple letters to mention to give an idea of the scope of “advice”: Baseball, C (letter grade), Delphi, Emulation, French, “I don’t want to” (a message to young men), Nabokov, Phones, Strunk and White, X-ing, and Zeal. The book is worth seeking out just for this essay – not to mention the poster.

The book closes with “Parts of Their Night: An Elegy for Our Professors,” and is both profound and touching enough to have brought tears to my eyes at the close.

Whether through the book or by researching the original newspaper columns, these essays are very much worth seeking out and reading – for teachers, for writers, and just for those who enjoy thoughtful insight that enlightens without preaching – through honesty, humility, and humor.

Thank you Robert Day.

Treedom: The Road to Freedom is a collection of photographs and reflections by “Japan’s Foremost Master Treehouse Builder” Takashi Kobayashi. “Treedom” is more than just about Kobayashi, as it encompasses a whole community of like-minded and activist individual. Even the concept of tree house in Treedom is one developed a bit further than those platform structures we knew as children, but clearly related to those roots: “the term tree house refers simply to any structure built on the boughs and limbs of living trees. We who build these structures are not architects; our aim rather, through art and free expression, is to break down the feeling of separation that exists between humans and nature. For those who share our values and free spirit we have a name: ‘Tree house people.'” [from TreeHouse People]

The hardcover text is beautifully rendered in full-bleed images and text overlay throughout. It also includes a DVD documentary, some of which mirrors the content of the book, but also helps to give a greater sense of the scope and passion of Kobayashi’s work. He is unique in his commitment to trees and building artfully amazing structures sometimes hundred of feet above ground. And, as “fun” as it may sound, his is a story of struggle – against the norm, and to find a place for himself when he is not most at home in his tress, but among other people. Certainly a book, documentary, and life story to be admired by artists who have ever dreamed of living their work, and for the rest of us who simply appreciate the dream.

Participating in the Poetry Postcard Projects, I enjoy seeking out new forms of poetry and trying my very amatuer hand at them. I came across mesostic poetry for the first time in my memory (meaning I’m getting old enough to forget more). I certainly remember acrostic poetry, but not mesostic – and certainly not in its “true” form.

Developed by John Cage, with some pretty specific rules for the “true” form, it is a fun and challenging style to practice. To help with my understanding, I came across this site developed by Matthew McCabe, created “to fulfill the requirements of the graduate student final project for 20th Century Innovators: John Cage, a class taught by Dr. Elainie Lillios at Bowling Green State University.” The site includes a mesostic generator, in which you can enter the word you would like ‘mesostomized’ and the url of a site from which you would like the words for the poem chosen.

I had some fun with this, trying simple to complex words as well as names (it can handle both first and last names with a space between them). It’s interesting to see site code often selected and placed into the poem. At first I found this disappointing, but, in keeping with the nature of the poem, it does follow all the “rules” and is an twist on John Cage’s concept – bringing it into the language of computer-speak. Still, I enjoyed the true-word selections best. While random or chance poetry forms are controversial, I find them to be a delightful discovery – maybe not every time, but so it goes with any poetry.

Image from mesostic.com