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Great Moments in Literature

Dan Seeger

“Paul Espeseth, who was no longer taking the antidepressant Celexa, braced himself for a cataclysm at SeaWorld.” –Jonathan Lethem, “Pending Vegan,” 2014 “THE BEAST’S SCALES ARE CUTTING EDGES THAT WELT HIS FLESH, TEARING HIS UNIFORM INTO BLOODIED TATTERS! THE MONSTROUS TAIL LASHES IN DEADLY FRENZY, WHIPPING THE WATER TO FOAM, FRAGMENTING ITS REFLECTIONS–AND STRANGELY, IN THAT MOMENT, THEY ARE IMAGES THAT HAVE A STABBING CLARITY THE MIRROR-PERFECT FIGURE LACKED! PAIN BIRTHS INSANITY WITHIN HIS MIND…AND DESPERATION IS THE MID-WIFE. HIS BOOTS PURPOSEFULLY GOUGE INTO THE YIELDING, SALIVATING MOUTH, AND ITS TONGUE BULGES BENEATH AND AROUND HIS HEELS! HOLD ON! PLEASE, … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

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My Writers: Roger Angell

Dan Seeger

I was in a creative writing class in college when one of my fellow students asked the professor if it was acceptable for him to write his stories about sports. When the professor was reluctant to agree, my classmate added that his desire was to write a series of loosely interconnected stories about baseball. As I recall it, the professor settled immediately in the affirmative given the additional information. Baseball, he said, was the one sport that actually merited literary attention. If I weren’t already inclined in that direction, I’d have to accede the point every time I read one … Continue reading My Writers: Roger Angell

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My Writers: John Updike

Dan Seeger

Sometimes I don’t feel worthy as a reader, as if I haven’t earned the right to turn the pages. That’s admittedly entirely at odds with the impact that any writer would ever hope to have, making me feel guilty for even expressing it. Certainly, John Updike, a deeply devoted reader who contributed effusive, informed book reviews to The New Yorker for years, would probably be dismayed by me–by anyone–applying that sentiment to his work. And yet that’s exactly how I felt. It’s not that the language was too dense or flowery, curlicues of off-putting eloquence. Instead, it was the clean, … Continue reading My Writers: John Updike

Books, Comics1 Comment

Great Moments in Literature

Dan Seeger

“Steadily the goldfinch gazed at me, with shiny, changeless eyes. The wooden panel was tiny, ‘only slightly larger than an A-4 piece of paper’ as one of my art books had pointed out, although all that dates-and-dimension stuff, the dead textbook info, was as irrelevant in its way as the sports-page stats when the Packers were up by two in the fourth quarter and a thin icy snow had begun to fall on the field. The painting, the magic and aliveness of it, was like that odd airy moment of the snow falling, greenish light and flakes whirling in the … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

Books, ComicsLeave a comment

Great Moments in Literature

Dan Seeger

“His name was Toby Bell and he was entirely alone in his criminal contemplations. No evil genius controlled him, no paymaster, provocateur or sinister manipulator armed with an attaché case stuffed with hundred-dollar bills was waiting round the corner, no activist in a ski mask. He was in that sense the most feared creature of our contemporary world: a solitary decider.” –John le Carré, A Delicate Truth, 2013 “THEN, MINUTES LATER, CENTURIUS’ ORBITING COLONIZER PLUMMETS FROM THE HEAVENS LIKE A HELLBORN COMET OF DOOM ON A MISSION OF GALACTIC RETALIATION…PLOWING INEXORABLY INTO THE MOUTH OF THE VOLCANO…AS THOUGH IN RETRIBUTION … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature