Beyond Shakespeare: Thinking globally on the anniversary of the playwright’s death
Which authors do students entering college in the United States need to be familiar with? Homer? Dante? Austen? Dickinson? Ellison? All of the above? No. According to the Common Core…
These Molten Flowers: on Lola Ridge, radical poet and activist
In a news clip from 1927, Lola Ridge stands alone in the middle of a street as thousands of people demonstrate against the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. The crowds…
Six Proposals for the Reform of Literature in the Age of Climate Change
A century ago, China was in chaos. The Qing Empire had been overthrown by a loosely coordinated confederation of elites. The regional militias and armies that held sway were each…
Sometimes You Need a Record of Your Life: on Lisa Robertson
“I want to be believed. But I also want to write through spaces that are utterly delusional.” —Lisa Robertson I was reading Lisa Robertson’s latest long poem, Cinema of the…
Amplified by the Ultrasound: Keith Leonard’s Ramshackle Ode
Keith Leonard’s first full-length collection, Ramshackle Ode, transforms the poetry of praise into a celebration of the imperfect—in particular, the imperfections of the author’s life. The poems of Ramshackle Ode…
Call for Submissions: Translation Feature
BOSTON, MA – MAY 2, 2016 | The Critical Flame, a bimonthly online journal of book reviews, criticism, essays, interviews, and literary nonfiction, announces an invitation for submissions to a…
Conversations: E. C. Osondu and William Pierce
E. C. Osondu In 2006, after the publication of his first two stories, E. C. Osondu came to Boston to read for AGNI, the magazine I edit with Sven Birkerts….
Two Dozen Dancers: Representing a Masterpiece
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, sets its Little Dancer Aged Fourteen at the end of the second-floor hallway above its Fenway entrance. With her Egyptian-god stance and silk tutu…
The Mastery of Absences: China Miéville’s This Census-Taker
If texts with narrative plots and wholesome structures are read and written according to disciplines and procedures conforming to their configurations, then perforated structures, degenerate formations, and plot holes must…