Trump Sky Alpha by Mark Doten
Mark Doten’s novel opens with the fictional Trump making a bad decision. All over the world, the internet has gone down. When it comes back up, for reasons no one quite understands, he uses the nuclear codes.
Donald Trump
Writing From Exile
Regarding writing in exile within one’s own country, James Baldwin might facetiously ask, “Exiled from which America?” He might invoke W.E.B. Du Bois’ double-consciousness and say, “You should know you were only really a part of it insomuch as you could see out of your own eyes and perceive, at the same time, how they see you and not succumb to that vision.”
The Poet’s Participation in the Global Economy
How can and how does the poet contribute to the political, historical, and economic tradition of their society?
Fake News, Real Stories
Literary fiction in 2017 expounded on the gritty realities that the Trump Administration obscures. Socially relevant fiction this year resonated with readers hungry for truth.
Kevin Young and the Age of Euphemism
In his eleventh book, Young recapitulates some of America’s most notorious humbugs, from P. T. Barnum’s Feejee Mermaid to James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces and Rachel Dolezal’s blackface. While his text primarily works to link the rise of hoaxes to “race and racialism,” Young also links this evolution to that of American media.
Expired Futures in Ali Smith’s Autumn
Written in the immediate aftermath of Brexit, Ali Smith’s Autumn questions how ripping up common ground in favour of enhanced borders reverberates through time and into living human bodies.
The Black Aesthetic: Love and War in Miguel’s “Told You So” and “Shockandawe”
Miguel’s latest album War and Leisure is passionate and political. Although known for his sexy love ballads, War and Leisure is a subtle commentary on war and political violence in Trump’s America.
Trump Appoints Former Lit Mag Editor to Top Post
President Trump appointed Jon Parrish Peede as the acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Peede’s appointment comes at a time of heightened tension between the arts community and the Trump administration.
Trump, Transphobia, and the Lessons of The Argonauts
The tension at the heart of Trump’s recent iteration of bigotry against trans individuals comes through profoundly in Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts. Nelson writes both movingly and perplexingly about bodies in flux.