A Book Bench, Bernhard, and the Irony Switch

For those of you who have been following Douglas Glover online, either through douglasglover.net, the five-times-lovely numéro cinq, or through general twitterbuzz, you'll know that his essay on Thomas Bernhard has been catching eyes around the world. First there was The Brooklyn Rail, which ran it last week; then there was Andrew Gallix, columnist for The Guardian, who posted an excerpt on his blog; and today, the New Yorker's Book Bench column posted an excerpt in its "Loose Leafs" online feature. Keep tweeting, world! And remember that Doug will be signing copies of Attack of the Copula Spiders this year at AWP Chicago, both at the Vermont College of Fine Arts booth (Mar. 1, 2-3:30), and at the Copula Spiders Pre-Party (Mar. 2nd, 7 PM, Dining Room 4).

And finally (as we flick the lights on this post?), the Book Bench pull quote: “Every great novel possesses a mysterious flickering quality, the on/off light of irony, that conceals and reveals its moment of fidelity.” Thanks, Book Bench!

A Scrupulous Fidelity: Attack of the Copula Spiders

The first book we will be launching this Spring is Douglas Glover's critical book Attack of the Copula Spiders.  It's a fabulous collection of essays on reading and writing: the essays on writing are among the best and most useful I've read.  If you want to learn how to write a short story, or the difference between writing a short story and a novel, or various tips and tricks to invigorate your prose, then Glover's Spiders is the book for you.

One of the main points Glover makes in this collection is that one must first learn to read well before one can write well, and to that end Spiders gathers some of Glover's best recent writing on writers and their work, including essays and reviews on Alice Munro, Leon Rooke, Mark Anthony Jarman and several others.  One of these other essays, on Thomas Bernhard's The Loser -- a book which has been on my bedside table since I picked it up at Type Books last Fall -- was published yesterday as a web exclusive in The Brooklyn Rail, and can be read here.  

Though Attack of the Copula Spiders officially pubs in April, we will be pre-launching it at AWP on Friday March 2nd in Chicago (7:00-8:15, The Hilton Hotel, Room 4).  If you're attending AWP please make plans to stop by.