‘It was explained to me that in Italy a formality is a sort of dormant volcano.’
Italians commute. Every September I receive a letter from the administration of the university where I teach, in Milan, reminding me that, since I am not resident in the city, I have to apply for a nullaosta for the forthcoming year. This piece of paper, signed by the rector himself, will say that n…
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‘The anglophone world, we have to infer, has run out of words for its own feelings.’
Daisy Hildyard on the wisdom of scarecrows.
‘What is the read receipt for?’
Lillian Fishman on texting, power and the ethics of leaving a friend on read.
‘Like pretty much everyone who uses the internet, I have seen many terrible things that I did not search for and that I cannot unsee.’
Rosanna McLaughlin on what the internet thinks she wants.
‘I have a pathological addiction to the internet, which I indulge with the excuse of making art. It rarely translates to anything good and mostly leaves me overstimulated and afraid.’
Paul Dalla Rosa on excess and the internet.
‘rumors of bees on speedwell, / no oxidative stress just / effortless pollination’
Two poems by Sylvia Legris.
‘It is hard to devote yourself to something that makes you feel constantly like an amateur.’
Greg Jackson on writing and teaching fiction.
‘Is the act of complicating a perfectly nice daydream a craft?’
Ben Pester on the craft of imagination.
An excerpt from the novel From Another World, translated from the Italian by Ruth Clarke.
‘When I met her, I kept thinking: is she looking at me? Or rather, is she looking inside me?’
