Pathetic Literature, page 60
Sallie Fullerton has an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Their work has appeared in Frontier Poetry, Vagabond City Lit, and the Bennington Review, among other places.
Rumi (1207–1273) was born in Central Asia and was a poet, scholar, theologian, and mystic. His burial place in Konya, Turkey, remains a shrine to this day.
Brad Gooch is a poet, novelist, and biographer. His books include Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love and Rumi: Unseen Poems, translated with Maryam Mortaz.
Maryam Mortaz is an Iranian American writer and translator, and author of the short story collection Pushkin and Other Stories. With Brad Gooch, she translated Rumi: Unseen Poems.
Saidiya Hartman is the author of Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route, and Scenes of Subjection. A MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, she has been a Guggenheim Fellow, Cullman Fellow, and Fulbright Scholar. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and lives in New York.
Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) was born in Foxrock, Ireland, and attended Trinity University in Dublin. In 1928, he visited Paris for the first time, and in 1937, he settled in Paris permanently. A prolific writer of novels, short stories, and poetry, he is remembered principally for his works for the theater, which belong to the tradition of the Theater of the Absurd. In 1969, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Samuel R. Delany is a renowned novelist and critic, whose award-winning fiction includes Dhalgren, Babel-17, The Mad Man, Dark Reflections, and Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders. In addition to receiving the William Whitehead Memorial Award and the Kessler Award for his lifetime contribution to lesbian and gay writing, Delany was chosen by the Lambda Book Report in 1988 as one of the fifty most influential people of the past hundred years to change our conception of queerness.
Sei Shōnagon (?966–?1017) was born approximately a thousand years ago and served as lady-in-waiting at the court of the Japanese empress during the last decade of the tenth century. Our knowledge of Shōnagon’s life rests almost exclusively on The Pillow Book, a book of observations and musings recorded during her time as a court lady.
Meredith McKinney is a translator of classical and modern Japanese literature. She lived and taught in Japan for 20 years, and now lives in country Australia. Her translations include Hōjōki and Essays in Idleness and Travels with a Writing Brush, and two novels by Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro and Kusamakura.
Sergio Chejfec (1956–2022) was an Argentine writer who lived in New York City. He taught at NYU in the Creative Writing in Spanish MFA program. He published several books, including narrations, essays, and novels. Some of them have been translated into English: Notes Toward a Pamphlet (Ugly Duckling Presse 2020); The Incompletes (Open Letter 2019); Baroni, A Journey (Almost Island 2017); The Dark (Open Letter 2013); The Planets (Open Letter 2012); and My Two Worlds (Open Letter 2011).
Whitney DeVos is a scholar, translator, writer, and editor based in Mexico City.
Simone Weil (1909–1943) was born in Paris. A religious philosopher, essayist, dramatist, and poet, as well as a social critic and political activist, Weil was one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century. Her other works include Gravity and Grace and The Need for Roots.
Emma Craufurd is the translator of Waiting for God and Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil.
Simone White is the author of or, on being the other woman, Dear Angel of Death, Of Being Dispersed, and House Envy of All the World, the poetry chapbook Unrest, and the collaborative poem/painting chapbook Dolly (with Kim Thomas). Her poetry and prose have been featured in Artforum, e-flux, Harper’s Magazine, BOMB Magazine, Chicago Review, the New York Times Book Review, and the Harriet Blog. Her honors include a 2021 Creative Capital Award, a 2017 Whiting Award in Poetry, Cave Canem Foundation fellowships, and recognition as a New American Poet for the Poetry Society of America in 2013. A graduate of Wesleyan University, she holds a JD from Harvard Law School, an MFA from the New School, and a PhD in English from CUNY Graduate Center. She is the Stephen M. Gorn Family Assistant Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the writing faculty of the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College. She lives in Brooklyn.
Precious Okoyomon is a multidisciplinary artist and writer living and working in New York. She attended Shimer College in Chicago. Her work has been shown in solo exhibits at the MMK in Frankfurt and the Luma Westbau in Zurich and was included in the 13th Baltic Triennial. Okoyomon has read at The Kitchen, The Studio Museum, MoMA PS1, Hauser and Wirth, and The Poetry Project. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Rubell Family Collection. Her first book of poetry, Ajebota, was published by Bottlecap Press in 2016. Her book but did u die? is forthcoming from Wonder Press.
Sophie Robinson teaches Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia and is the author of A and The Institute of Our Love in Disrepair. Her work has appeared in n+1, the White Review, Poetry Review, the Brooklyn Rail, Ploughshares, and BOMB Magazine. Her third full collection, Rabbit, was published by Boiler House Press in 2018.
Sparrow has published ten books, the two most recent being Small Happiness (Monkfish) and The Princeton Diary (Vinal). He has written for The Sun (thesunmagazine.org) for 40 years. Sparrow lives in a doublewide trailer in eucharistic Phoenicia, NY.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695) was a Mexican poet, dramatist, scholar, and nun. She became a cloistered nun in 1667. Sor Juana also had one of the largest private libraries in the New World. Her most important works are First Dream and “The Reply to Sister Filotea of the Cross.”
Jaime Manrique is the author of the memoir Eminent Maricones: Arenas, Lorca, Puig, and Me, the novels Latin Moon in Manhattan and Colombian Gold, and two poetry collections. He is cotranslator, with Joan Larkin, of Sor Juana’s Love Poems.
Susie Timmons is a poet. Unmarried and childless, she lives alone with her dog. She has been writing and reading poetry for the past 50 years of her life. Early in her career, there was every indication that she was bound for greatness; alas, her high-strung temperament, poor work habits, and addictive personality combined to rob her of her destiny, ultimately leading her to betray her talents. Her work can be found in Superior Packets (Wave Books 2015).
Tim Johnson is a poet and editor, based in Marfa, Texas. Since 2008, he and his partner, Caitlin Murray, have owned the Marfa Book Co.
Mark So is a composer. Marfa Book Co. published a collection of his Ashbery scores as a box of wind, and his music can be heard in Eileen Myles’s film The Trip as well as on his recent album part of life from OPEN SPACE. He lives in and out of Los Angeles.
Valerie Solanas (1936–1988) was an American radical feminist writer who is best known for SCUM Manifesto, as well as the attempted murder of artist Andy Warhol.
Steve Carey (1945–1989) was born in Washington, DC, and published seven collections of poetry. “Steve,” an essay on his life and writing, can be found in Alice Notley’s Coming After: Essays on Poetry. The Selected Poems of Steve Carey is the first book to make Carey’s work widely available.
Violette Leduc (1907–1972) has been referred to as “France’s greatest unknown writer.” Leduc was championed by Simone de Beauvoir when she published her scandalous autobiography, La Bâtarde, and admired by other notable French writers including Jean Genet, Nathalie Sarraute, and Albert Camus.
Derek Coltman is the translator of La Bâtarde and other works by Violette Leduc.
Tom Cole is a writer and artist living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His work has been presented at Participant Inc, Petit Versailles, Thread Waxing Space, Art on Air, Dixon Place, Clocktower Gallery, ICA Boston, Performa, and the Boston Center for the Arts. He is a three-time MacDowell Playwriting fellow and a 2015 Edward Albee Foundation Playwriting fellow. He heads the New Play Commissioning Program at True Love Productions, where he has commissioned new work by Heidi Schreck, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Craig Lucas, and Sheila Callaghan, among others. He co-curates Experiments and Disorders, a literary series at Dixon Place. He has collaborated extensively with Anohni, most recently appearing in She Who Saw Beautiful Things at The Kitchen.
Victoria Chang’s latest poetry book is OBIT, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Time Best Book of the Year, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. Her new book of hybrid nonfiction is Dear Memory. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and lives in Los Angeles and serves as the Program Chair of Antioch’s MFA Program.
Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book Someone’s Dead Already was nominated for a California Book Award. His book Heaven Is All Goodbyes was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, was shortlisted for the Griffins Poetry Prize, and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award. His latest book, Blood on The Fog, was released this fall in the City Lights Pocket Poets series. He is San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate.
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was a novelist, poet, and playwright. He is best known for Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, as well as other works, including The Toilers of the Sea and The Man Who Laughs.
Will Farris is a visual artist and poet. In 2019 they were the inaugural recipient of The Brannan Prize at The Poetry Project, judged by Lisa Jarnot. They live in New York City.
Credits
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyrighted material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
“untitled” from Grave of Light © 2006 by Alice Notley. Published by Wesleyan University Press. Used by permission.
Excerpt from Maud Martha © 1953, 2003 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Reprinted by consent of Brooks Permissions.
“People Without Names” © The Friend. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“Loveland” from Bedrooms Have Windows © 1989, 2018 by Kevin Killian. Reprinted in Fascination: Memoirs. Reprinted with permission of Semiotext(e).
“Yesterday I Was” © Ama Birch. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“Afterword: The Great Punctuation Typography Struggle” from Woman Hating © 1974 by Andrea Dworkin. Originally published by Dutton. Reprinted by permission of The Estate of Andrea Dworkin.
“Truth or Consequences” from Mercury © 2011 by Ariana Reines. Reprinted with permission of the author and Fence Books.
“April, 1995” from The Pain Journal © 2000 by Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose. Reprinted with permission of Semiotext(e).
“A Description of the Camp” by Baha’ Ebdeir, from Making Mirrors: Writing/Righting by Refugees (2019), edited by Jehan Bseiso and Becky Thompson, published by Olive Branch Press, an imprint of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
“Would You Wear My Eyes?” from Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness © 1965 by Bob Kaufman. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
“August 6, 2011” from The Grave on the Wall © 2019 by Brandon Shimoda. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of City Lights Books, www.citylights.com.
Excerpt from The Romanian: Story of an Obsession © Bruce Benderson. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“My Faggot Kansas Blood Confessions to the Earth” and “My Faggot Blood on His Fist” from While Standing in Line for Death © 2017 by CAConrad. Reprinted with permission of the author and Wave Books.
“Reading My Catastrophe” © 2020 by Camille Roy. First published in “Reading My Catastrophe/Pain” by Camille Roy and Robert Glück (Asterion Projects). Reprinted with permission of the author.
“Soap Bubbles in the Dirty Water” from Dialogues in Paradise by Can Xue. Translation © 1989 by Northwestern University Press. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from Texas: The Great Theft © 2013 by Carmen Boullosa, English translation © 2014 by Samantha Schnee. Reprinted with permission of Deep Vellum Publishing.
Excerpt from My Mother Laughs © 2013 by Chantal Akerman. English translation © 2019 by Daniella Shreir. Reprinted with permission of Silver Press.
“Before You Go” from Recalculating © 2013 by Charles Bernstein. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Excerpt from If He Hollers, Let Him Go © 1945 by Chester Himes. Reprinted with permission of The Chester & Lesley Himes Literary Estate.
Excerpt from I Love Dick © 1997, 2006 by Chris Kraus. Reprinted with permission of the author and Semiotext(e).
Excerpt from “Some Other Deaths of Bas Jan Ader” from Some Other Deaths of Bas Jan Ader © 2013 by Dana Ward. Reprinted with permission of Flowers & Cream.
“Being Close to Data” © Dara Barrois/Dixon. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Excerpt from God Jr. © 2005 by Dennis Cooper. Reprinted by permission of Grove Press, Inc.
Excerpt from “Fat Chance” © Dodie Bellamy. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“Night Watch” and “Watchman, What of the Night?” from Nightwood © 1937 by Djuna Barnes. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
“Campaign Letter for President of the United States, 1991” © Eileen Myles. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“that flaming brand” and “Boulder/Meteor” © 2020 by essa may ranapiri. First published in Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2020. Reprinted with permission of the author and Massey University Press.
Excerpts from Sitt Marie Rose (pages 79–82 and 98–105) © 1978 by Etel Adnan. English translation © 1982 by Georgina Kleege. English translation was first published by The Post-Apollo Press. Reprinted with permission of Litmus Press and the Estate of Etel Adnan.
“A Child in Old Age” and “A Vision” from Second Childhood © 2014 by Fanny Howe. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
“there is religious tattooing” from Hughson’s Tavern © 2008 by Fred Moten. Reprinted with permission of the author and Leon Works.
“Play It Again, S” from Heroine © 1987, 2019 by Gail Scott. Reprinted with permission of the author and Coach House Books.
Excerpt from Letter to His Father by Franz Kafka, translated, revised, and updated by Arthur S. Wensinger, compilation copyright © 1989 by Penguin Random House LLC. Used by permission of Schocken Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from Lenz by Georg Büchner. Originally written in 1836 and translated into English in 1969.
Excerpt from My Dog Tulip © 1965 by J. R. Ackerley (New York Review Books), reproduced by permission by David Higham Associates.
“My Struggle” © Jack Halberstam. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“This Dark Apartment” from Collected Poems © 1993 by the Estate of James Schuyler. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. All Rights Reserved.
“Chronicle” from Sideways Between Stories © 2016 by Frank B. Wilderson III. Reprinted with permission of the author and Commune Editions (communeeditions.com).
Excerpt from Winter in the Blood © 1974 by James Welch. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
“28.” in “Corporate Sonnets” from How Much? © 2021 by Jerome Sala. Reprinted with permission of the author and NYQ Books.
“An Obituary” © Joe Proulx. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“Stop” from Housework © 1975 by Joan Larkin. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Excerpt from Tramps Like Us © 2001 by Joe Westmoreland. Reprinted with permission of the author.
“The Copyists” from Dead Letter © 2014 by Jocelyn Saidenberg. Reprinted with permission of the author and Roof Books.
“Catullus Tells Me Not to Write the Rant Against the Poem ‘Good Bones’ by Maggie Smith” from Cyborg Detective © 2019 by The Cyborg Jillian Weise. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of BOA Editions, Ltd., boaeditions.org.
Selections from The Hotel Wentley Poems © 1958, 2021 by the Literary Estate of John Wieners. Reprinted with permission of Raymond Foye, executor.
“The Cult of the Phoenix” © 1998 by Maria Kodama; translation © 1998 by Penguin Random House LLC; from Collected Fictions: Volume 3 by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
“A Woman Is Talking to Death” from The Judy Grahn Reader © 1997 by Judy Grahn. Reprinted with permission of the author and Aunt Lute Books.
“You Better Come” from We the Animals: A Novel © 2011 by Justin Torres. Reprinted by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
