Recent BooksAmerica’s Game, America’s Obsession: The National Football League—Then and NowOscar VillalonOne of the biggest shifts in American popular culture in the past half century—right up there with hip hop sidelining rock and roll and TV steamrolling radio (and now TV being shoved aside by the internet)—has been professional football usurping baseball as America’s sport of choice. PoetryEquinoxHonor JonesWe dug potatoes from their cabinets of soil, watched / the belly of the earth turn over in its grave, a glimpse of flesh / through darkening ground, roots and greenlings—then the plow. The Summer after They Crashed and DrownedTraci BrimhallThe moon changes and changes back / like a woman dressing and undressing, /
taking her sadness on and off. We don’t / say their names. Dead FlyTed KooserThis black sedan lies on its top / on the kitchen window sill, its wheels / in the air, its battery drained, / the oil trickling into the cylinders. The Polio Vaccine, Chatham, Virginia, 1964Claudia EmersonIt was not death we came to fear but her life, / her other birth, waking remade from the womb / / of that disease. Editor’s DeskThe Price of AggressionTed GenowaysWe, as a nation, seem to believe that, win or lose, the war is nearly finished, done with, history. Unfortunately, for hundreds of thousands of American veterans and their families, the war is anything but over. VQR PortfolioThe Life and Lonely Death of Noah PierceAshley Gilbertson
At age 23, Noah Pierce took a handgun and shot himself in the head. It could have been the memory of the Iraqi child he crushed under his Bradley. It could have been the unarmed man he shot point-blank in the forehead, or the friend he tried madly to gather into a plastic bag after he had been blown to bits, or it could have been the doctor he killed. |
From the BlogReading the Fine PrintMandy RedigThere are moments in life when none of us are particularly looking to be inspired by language. Standing in line at airport security during the travel madness that is the week between Christmas and New Year’s comes to mind as one of those times. Amidst the uncertainty of our world, the turbulence of our recent election, and the grave challenges that rise before us in the new year, I think I might have unwittingly stumbled across a top ten list worth pondering. In Priase of PlagiarismJacob Silverman
There are many extraordinary things about Bernardo Atxaga’s “Obabakoak,” and chief among them perhaps is its capacity to delight. It is, in the best sense of the word, an entertainment. It whirls and skips along, riffing on stories and archetypes you’ve probably heard or read before in another form, another language, perhaps set in some other place and time. FictionRepresenting DorisPeter WalpoleAt some point in her late sixties, no one remembered exactly when, Doris Moat began to water her driveway. She would stand there for ten minutes, maybe fifteen, then carefully lay the hose down, walk over to the spigot by the stoop that led to her small side porch, and shut off the water. The Iraq ShowCharles AntinMy main duties as the Production Assistant on The Iraq Show are to 1.
translate the Daily Data into plain English and 2. get the coffee. I’ve
only been on the job a few weeks so, for the most part, my job has been to 2.
get the coffee. But today is different. Web ExclusivesTributes to writer and mentor George GarrettRead reminiscences by Richard Bausch, Robert Bausch, Carrie Brown, Kelly Cherry, Brendan Galvin, James W. Hall, Hilary Masters, Thomas McGonigle, Alan Wier, and many others. A Few Unforeseen ThingsWatch Elliott Woods’s video interviews with the friends and families of two men killed in a suicide bombing at the FOB Marez chow hall. A conversation with poet Brian TurnerRead Patrick Hicks’s conversation with Brian Turner, Iraq War veteran and author of the acclaimed poetry collection Here, Bullet. Plus...Lawrence Weschler on David Hockney’s return to painting, J. Hoberman on “Lonesome Rhodes,” Blake Bailey on John Cheever’s childhood, and much, much more. |
Current Issue
Fall 2008Our Fall 2008 issue focuses on the impact of the Iraq War on its veterans. The issue can be purchased online or on newsstands. Start with this issue when you subscribe today! From The BlogTwo Perspectives on Bush’s DepartureWaldo JaquithThe National Review and VQR have employed the same concept, but sent two very different messages. The Best Books of 2009Michael LukasI'd put up $20 that one of these six books will make the NYT Best Books of 2009. Speak (Correctly), Memory!Matthew Shaer"Angel at the Fence" again raises the question of the rules of memoir. Top 10 Poetry Books of 2008Ted GenowaysThe best poetry of the year counted down. Reading the Fine PrintMandy RedigInspiration comes from the unlikeliest of places. In Praise of PlagiarismJacob SilvermanBernardo Atxaga draws a line between theft and homage in his delightful "Obabakoak." Link Roundup: The Power of WeschlerWaldo JaquithThe year's best mistakes, Lawerence Weschler's mysterious power, the merits of literary prizes, and more. VQR’s Minor RedesignWaldo JaquithWith a new logo and layout, we're slimming down the magazine without dropping a word. |
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