Enter your email Address

ENTROPY
  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      film

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Beyond the Dolls’ House

      December 13, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Luck

      December 12, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Best of 2019: Nonfiction Books

      December 12, 2019

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Walls

      June 5, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      Best of 2019: Favorite Online Fiction & Short Stories

      December 6, 2019

      Fiction

      Autumn Passing

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Best of 2019: Best Fiction Books

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Vexing the Dog

      November 27, 2019

      Fiction

      A Hurt In Negative

      November 20, 2019

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      On Brendan Lorber’s If This Is Paradise Why Are We Still Driving

      December 12, 2019

      Review

      Review: The Way Cities Feel to Us Now by Nathaniel Kennon Perkins

      December 9, 2019

      Review

      Obsessive, Recursive Violence and Concentration: Charlene Elsby’s Hexis

      December 5, 2019

      Review

      EVERYTHING CAN GO/ ON THE GRILL: A Combined Review of Alissa Quart

      December 2, 2019

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      MOUTH: EATS COLOR and the Devoration of Languages

      January 12, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Penteract Press

      December 10, 2019

      Small Press

      Game Over Books

      December 3, 2019

      Small Press

      Jamii Publishing

      November 19, 2019

      Small Press

      Elixir Press

      November 12, 2019

      Small Press

      Blasted Tree Press

      October 29, 2019

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Shattered Memories: Biography of a Place

        September 3, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch

ENTROPY

  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      film

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Beyond the Dolls’ House

      December 13, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Luck

      December 12, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Best of 2019: Nonfiction Books

      December 12, 2019

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Walls

      June 5, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      Best of 2019: Favorite Online Fiction & Short Stories

      December 6, 2019

      Fiction

      Autumn Passing

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Best of 2019: Best Fiction Books

      December 5, 2019

      Fiction

      Vexing the Dog

      November 27, 2019

      Fiction

      A Hurt In Negative

      November 20, 2019

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      On Brendan Lorber’s If This Is Paradise Why Are We Still Driving

      December 12, 2019

      Review

      Review: The Way Cities Feel to Us Now by Nathaniel Kennon Perkins

      December 9, 2019

      Review

      Obsessive, Recursive Violence and Concentration: Charlene Elsby’s Hexis

      December 5, 2019

      Review

      EVERYTHING CAN GO/ ON THE GRILL: A Combined Review of Alissa Quart

      December 2, 2019

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      MOUTH: EATS COLOR and the Devoration of Languages

      January 12, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Penteract Press

      December 10, 2019

      Small Press

      Game Over Books

      December 3, 2019

      Small Press

      Jamii Publishing

      November 19, 2019

      Small Press

      Elixir Press

      November 12, 2019

      Small Press

      Blasted Tree Press

      October 29, 2019

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Shattered Memories: Biography of a Place

        September 3, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch
Review

Small Reviews of Small Books

written by M Kitchell May 25, 2015

I’m a fan of small books. Whether this means a short book, a chapbook, a novella, a “novel” that is only 20 pages (consider Bataille’s Madame Edwarda or Marguerite Duras’s Man Sitting in the Corridor), a journal, a zine, whatever, brevity is a form I appreciate. I find this especially true when considering that the standard length of a novel has progressively become further and further bloated as time has gone on. I’ve noticed that small books rarely get any attention, rarely get reviewed. As such, it is my intention, as some one who reads a lot of small books, to start publicly discussing the small books that I read, to help highlight the fact that small books should not be ignored. This is the first batch of hopefully many more to come.


cantosCantos for the Crestfallen – Pseudo-Leopardi
Trs. A. Necrezuta, F. Pilastru & I. Imaculata
gnOme Books

I’m a fan of gnOme Books’s project of publishing “secret” and “pseudonymous” texts, especially in an age where the ego of the author regularly outweighs the work itself (and as such, refuses to allow the author to be consumed into the work, which is a mark of writing that is important when considering Blanchot’s approach to literature). This short volume of 31 poems, each one seven 3-line stanzas of almost uniform line-length, presents itself as the once-lost work of a Romanian student in Italy. It wears its influences on its sleeves, but that’s not a negative, as the work of the saints, pushing for a sort of negative mysticism, is something that one should regularly interrogate. To write as the other is to lose the self, and the loss of self is an inherent element of mysticism. While the work herein does little of interest in terms of form (for what is poetry without an attention to form, even in attention to formlessness), the content is fascinating.

***

twinwasafterHER TWIN WAS AFTER ME – Ally Harris
Slim Princess Holdings

As I feel like I regularly voice my discontent with poetry collections, in the sense that most of the time the book as a whole is not accounted for and as such feel likes one poem to the next has little transition, etc, I’ll save myself from overindulging in that topic here. However, with that said, there’s a variety of forms on display here and Harris’s work functions best for me in two specific modes: in an inherent verticality (which reminds me of Bernard Noël’s thoughts on how poetry repositions speech into the vertical column, thus imposing a hierarchy over speech in terms of the artistic precedent this sets—and in terms of how this is positioning language visually on the page—we see poetry as much as we can hear it) and in the prose-poem blocks that make up most of the second half of the book. Overall, the poems that stick out most pair a sense of contemporary living and the problems therein with an actively linguistic reconstruction: the incidental appears with very well crafted lines, thus positioning the work far away from the ghetto of Alt-Lit. Despite the fact that it doesn’t excite me as a book, the poems on their own make for a fantastic read.

***

In Pieces – Rosmarie Waldrop
O’Clock Press

Gorgeous and brief book from O’Clock, collecting 16 prose poems from Waldrop, who is almost single-handedly responsible (along with her husband Keith) for bringing half of my favorite works of poetry in translation into the world (together, Rosmarie and Keith Waldrop run Burning Deck Press, while Rosmarie herself is the translator of Edmund Jabès oeuvre). The poems are linked in their form and construction, though not by content. Taking on a first person perspective, often addressing a “you” which is positioned either as the reader herself or another person “outside” of the presumed narrative. Deserving of closer scrutiny on my part.

***

shipsShips of Theseus – Christian Hawkey
Dikembe Press

I picked this up being quite a fan of Hawkey’s Ventrakl but being entirely unfamiliar with any of his other work, and out of a desire to support Dikembe Press as they seem to have an interesting project. I’ve sat on this for a while, at first overwhelmed by the density of the text for some reason, but upon picking it up today I fell into it easily. What I mistook, visually, for density actually translates into a sort of breathlessness in the poem itself—fragments and phrases strung together with semi-colons, in ways reminds one of some of Collobert’s work. There’s a touch of narrative here, occasionally swerving into thematic obsessions of my own (labyrinths, monstrous orgasms), but that is to be expected if you consider the title (the real question is of the absence of the minotaur, or non-absence?). The black squares that “punctuate,” perhaps, each page operate as small voids, a larger breath in between the breathless stanzas of the poem. A satisfying work overall.

***

00-HS2-Pierre-Guyotat-IndependenceIndependence – Pierre Guyotat
Semiotext(e)

Released initially for Guyotat’s reading tour of the US (as he only read in NYC, LA and SF, skipping Chicago of course, I regrettably missed out on this by about 6 months), and later ‘folded into’ the brilliant & necessary Semiotext(e) pamphlet series, this short volume is a more-than-welcome addition to the small but growing oeuvre of Guyotat’s available in English. On the surface this is a narrative about Guyotat’s time being imprisoned by “French military security for political rebellion” during the Algerian war, but more carefully read this ends up being a reflection on the nature of language itself, filtered at two key points through William Faulkner’s The Mansion. Guyotat is always one to remind that language comes out of existence, and has, throughout his career, demonstrated that the best mode to deliver what one has learned is not necessarily a purely mimetic realism (see Eden, Eden, Eden and Tomb for 500,000 Soldiers). Despite this, Independence offers a much more straight-forward sense of articulate memory, emphasizing the necessity of freedom.

Small Reviews of Small Books was last modified: May 25th, 2015 by M Kitchell
chapbooksdikembe pressgnome pressO'clock Presssemiotext(e)slim princess holdingssmall books
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Avatar
M Kitchell

M KITCHELL= ABSTRACT LOVER = CONSTRUCTING A SEA WITHOUT WATER = ECHOLALIA = FEAR = PAZUZU = USA GEMINI RISING = YOU KNOW HE'S A PROPHET http://topologyoftheimpossible.com

previous post
The Tijuana Book of the Dead by Luis Alberto Urrea
next post
#finalpoems at Enclave

You may also like

Symbolic Memory: Lauren Camp’s “Turquoise Door”

September 27, 2018

Movieola! by John Domini

June 8, 2016

VHS and Why It’s Hard to Live by Tatiana Ryckman

July 8, 2016

The Poetics of Anger: Erin Hoover’s Barnburner

November 19, 2018
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Recent Comments

  • Incognito Lounger This is so much better than the other lists I've been raiding today. I'd add Zapruder's Fathers Day and BJ Soloy's Our Pornography and other disaster songs. Ariana Reines and Tommy Pico will save us...

    Best of 2019: Poetry Books & Poetry Collections ·  December 11, 2019

  • Simmons Buntin You missed a few over at Terrain.org... :-)

    Best of 2019: Favorite Poems Published Online ·  December 6, 2019

  • Ginger Lang Mairead, a heartfelt gift from you to all who read and share your piece, and peace. Thank you for being brave and vulnerable so others in need of healing can feel you reaching out to them. Thank you...

     The TO THE TEETH #4 ·  December 5, 2019

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Dinnerview
  • Sunday Entropy List
  • Variations on a Theme
  • WOVEN
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • Literacy Narrative
  • Mini-Syllabus
  • Their Days Are Numbered
  • On Weather
  • Disarticulations
  • Birdwolf
  • Session Report series
  • Comics I've Been Geeking Out On
  • Small Press Releases
  • Books I Hate (and Also Some I Like)
  • The Poetics of Spaces
  • Notes On Motherhood
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • The Talking Cure
  • Best of 2018
  • The Weird Interview
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Foster Care
  • Pop Talks
  • The Concept World is No Longer Operational
  • Splendid Grub
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • D&D with Entropy
  • Stars to Stories

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2019 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Read our updated Privacy Policy.


Back To Top