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Question Reality and Memory with David Shields; Go fishing with T. C. Boyle; Visit Strange Lands and People with Richard Powers; Enter the Glitter Girl Contest with Danielle Evans; Take a walk along the Nile Corniche; Poetry by Derek Walcott & Mary Jo Bang; & much more.

Issue 9 Table of Contents

Issue 9

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News

Merde Alors! Gary Amdahl on Dialogue<br>A Q&A with Emily Cook

Merde Alors! Gary Amdahl on Dialogue
A Q&A with Emily Cook

Do you consider yourself to be a dramatic sort of person?

Yes, but not dramatic in a good way—the way, say, someone is who risks his life for a common good, to save the life of a drowning child, or who takes an unpopular but principled stand on a moral issue at a critical moment. Or even a tragic hero who makes a terrible mistake and pays a terrible price. Dramatic rather in a bad way, or at least theatrical in the way a baby is, or a bad actor: the latter hammy and unconvincing, the former helplessly, needily demanding of attention. I am always feigning astonishment or disgust or rapture or some other histrionic emotion, slapping my forehead and crying merde alors, dropping my jaw, and so on. Maybe it’s not a bad actor I resemble so much as a very specific type of methodical actor: an actor from the Delsarte school, where emotions have precise but simple gestures to represent them, or a Meyerhold biomechanic. And yes, I am dramatic in the sense that almost nothing I do or say is done or said casually or conversationally, without imaginary footlights and a sense of rehearsal.

Continue reading Merde Alors! Gary Amdahl on Dialogue
A Q&A with Emily Cook

Posted on October 26, 2009 | Issue 9 / News | Permalink

Focus Portfolios

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Issue 9

Cairo 2010: After Kefaya

The Focus Portfolio in APS 9 introduces the next generation of Egyptian writers.

You are stuck in traffic in downtown Cairo. Zahma—a blockage. The cars are packed in impossibly thick and there is only the slightest of forward movement. Pedestrians squeeze their way through hairline fractures between the metal, which adds to the congestion. A ride that could have taken fifteen minutes takes two hours. Time loses its sense of forward momentum; one becomes philosophical. This is a common occurrence.

Continue reading Cairo 2010: After Kefaya

Posted on October 14, 2009 | Focus Portfolios / Issue 9 | Permalink