The following is excerpted from Manifesto: Maximalist Expressionism, or "Shut/-/Up(!) Fiction". Always With a Bit of Laughter If there’s one thing I’ve taken from works of the authors I admire it’s the role humor and high-spiritedness can play in making fiction come alive. It seems to me fiction should bring to bear the full spectrum…
Rigaut – Excerpt from Housebreaking the Muse (in progress)
Throughout my novel Housebreaking the Muse, numerous short chapters provide a glimpse into the mind of Jacques Rigaut on the night of his suicide, November 5-6, 1929. The following fragment is from an early draft of one such chapter. Rigaut I have long been favored by visitations from oblivion, enveloped in its seductive lack, which…
Père Ubu in Housebreaking the Muse (excerpt)
In my novel (in progress), Housebreaking the Muse, a reformed, erudite, and chatty Père Ubu plays a central role and handles the lion's share of the narrative. The following excerpt is from the second chapter, in which Ubu introduces himself and explains his role. The entire chapter appears in the 2009 issue of Stolen Island…
The Paul West Experience: Liberating the Microcosms
I've prepared this essay for the 4th Biennial &Now Festival of Innovative Writing & the Literary Arts, to be held this week in Buffalo, NY. I'll be joining Anne-Laure Tissut, Dimitri Anastasopoulos, Dave Kress, and Christina Milletti for "Purple Brain: A Paul West Panel." The essay recalls some of my fond memories of Paul, and…
Craft Notes: What’s Happening?
The following is excerpted from Manifesto: Maximalist Expressionism, or "Shut/-/Up(!) Fiction". As to what transpires in my novel Flicker in the Porthole Glass, I’ve been asked point blank: Does anything happen in this novel? My answer: The novel happens in this novel. In his book of essays, For a New Novel, Alain Robbe-Grillet sums up…
Ed Desautels' Maximum Fiction 