Articles Written By Robert Birnbaum
Robert Birnbaum is editor-at-large at Identity Theory. All the sketchy details of his life will be (re)fabricated in his memoir-in-progress, Just Talking: How to Do Things With Words. His weblog can be found here.
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Birnbaum v.
Jonathan Lethem
A reactionary shudder is sweeping through the book world as the status quo realizes it’s terrified of literature. Our man in the mountains speaks with author Jonathan Lethem, who tears into the idea of “realist” vs. “anti-realist” fiction.
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Birnbaum v.
Stuart Dybek
Our man in Boston gets nostalgic for his Chicago roots in this wonderful conversation with short story master Stuart Dybek about the city of Daley, Bellow’s turf, and the difficulty of writing in a sentimental, nevermind linear fashion.
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Books
An Unfinished Life
I don't remember Mark Spragg's 2004 bittersweet novel An Unfinished Life garnering much review attention, but the new film based on it is sure to have a paperback edition with Robert...
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Things
Kiehl’s Original Musk Oil
Besides appreciating certain olfactory delights on their own merits, I am a normal neurotic American, bombarded with commercial messages about personal malodorousness: breath, body, foot, hair, and clothing, not to...
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Birnbaum v.
George Saunders
Do fiction writers put their best face forward in their work or in their private lives? Will the next story always be the one that maybe gets it right? A conversation with the extraordinary author about the craft.
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Books
The Power of the Dog
Don Winslow's third novel, The Power of the Dog, is a white-hot, high-velocity narrative through the narco-trafficking of the '70s, '80s and '90s, credibly implicating the various...
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Birnbaum v.
James Howard Kunstler
A simple statement but a nightmarish one: we can no longer expect to have more energy, only remorselessly less energy. An intense chat with author James Howard Kunstler about the chaos that will rattle our society once the energy disaster takes hold.
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Things
Zatarain’s Rice
No doubt in the future all our food will come out of pouches and packets, obviating the need for Cuisinart, All-Clad, and Wusthof doo-dads. My trusty rice cooker has been...
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Things
Holmes Blizzard Fan
My antipathy to all forms of conditioning (excepting a moderate amount of the physical) means I am a, uh, proponent of fans as cooling devices. One of my recent discoveries...
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Birnbaum v.
Camille Paglia
The humanities are ruined, and the universities full of crooks. Art in America is neglected, coddled, and buried under chatter. The right looks down on artists; the left looks down on everyone. Our man in Boston has an electrifying conversation with Camille Paglia.
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Things
Michael Graves Speakers
An Alessi teapot designed by Michael Graves sits atop my stove as a grave marker to my past affluence--Graves claims that he began to design for Target because he couldn't...
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Birnbaum v.
Ian McEwan
It can take six weeks to write six minutes of fiction, and that’s not so bad. A conversation with the author of Saturday about taking the time to do your thing, the changing face of literary culture, and how everybody really can write a novel.