«Out of Print» but not out of mind

«Germany is the land of his birth, but it has been a struggle to achieve recognition in his home country. Edgar Hilsenrath, 80, a Holocaust survivor whose novels have sold in the millions in the United States and Western Europe, makes German publishers feel uneasy. They say his works are “too gruesome, too satirical and too vulgar”.

Nonetheless, Hilsenrath, author of The Nazi Who Lived as a Jew, the break-out novel which catapulted him to prominence in the 1970s, was forced to flee the Nazis in 1938, but returned to Germany in 1975 and has lived in Berlin ever since.

His latest work, Berlin Endstation to be published by Dittrich Verlag this May, is an autobiographical novel about returning from New York to a post-war Berlin, divided by the wall.

Autobiographical threads run through most of Hilsenrath’s works. His novels, which he writes in his native German, have been translated into many languages in over 20 countries. The multi-lingual author says that he can only be a scribe in his mother tongue, which makes the popularity of his translated works abroad seem even more ironic.»

(from: Deutsche Welle)

THE MILLIONS IS NOW ON TUMBLR AND IT’S USING THE ALT LIT GOSSIP TUMBLR THEME OMF

altlitgossip:

The Occupy Movement: Morality in the Arts

«As creators of art, do we have a moral obligation to support social movements through our work? Artists–including writers, musicians, and painters–are forced to reconcile the spirit of the times with their desire to create. The Occupy Movement, which began with Occupy Wall Street and has since spread to cities throughout the U.S. and to other countries, recently received a boost from Occupy Writers, an online petition in support of the Occupy Movement that includes over two thousand signatures.

For the second session of Six Degrees Left, our monthly dialogue on topics that matter, we asked six artists–five writers and a musician–to discuss the responsibility artists have to social movements and the Occupy Movement in particular. We’ll share their responses over three consecutive days; …

Thanks to writers Myfanwy Collins, Katrina Gray, Jamie Iredell, Djelloul Marbrook and Marcus Speh, along with musician Bobby Strange, for joining us.»

» Go to the entire PANEL DISCUSSION @AtticusBooks here« 

There Is a Certain Long Armed Bird I See —by Darryl Price

There Is a Certain Long Armed Bird I See

by Darryl Price

from here with its bright fingers spread easily 
inside the cresting winds off the choppy
sky, circling the sun and sea splattered 
cliffs like a lone marble rolling down a  

smoothed out incline only to be turned invisibly
over again as if caught
swiveling inside a tedious glass
hour. It reaches bottom and it reaches

the top almost simultaneously
to my mind, living like a song on the
hairs of my neck, giving me this poem
to give to you. I only wanted to

breathe deeply my peace and quiet this morning
without having to pay one red cent
of tribute to Beauty’s restless wandering
spirit. She’s like a sad old starlet

looking for a lost shoe from a long ago
coming of age party. That shoe will
not bring back any innocence to her
wrecked feet. Yet I must admit every strand

of loose hair that dangles close to that cheek
still invites comparison with a million
lights pouring into forever,
some crazy waterfall dancing inside 

another even more wondrous waterfall
ad infinitum. It’s all a dumbfoundingly,
puzzling miracle’s what it
is. Like looking into a wishing well’s  

big moon soaked watery eyes and not being
able to blink. And it’s happening
to me right now. Would you believe that thing’s
still at it? The thrill is gone. She alone  

will always remain walking in and out
of the picture, a whirl behind the illusion
of our world at random being
nothing more or less than itself. I guess

that’s what I’d like to tell you. That and the
fact I’m obviously getting older.
At least we’re able to catch a little thought 
before the sun breaks down in blazing heaps.

dp