Greg Gerke
The strange and explosive circumstances of our year are not lost on anyone living on earth—it is enlivening to be around for the most momentous time since 1945, also incredibly anxiety-riddling. I reached out to a couple handfuls of the living writers I most admire for this non-fiction section—some of whom are much more known for their novels and stories. The virus and other obligations and responsibilities prevented half from participating, but the four to be presented this summer (with possibly one or two waiting in the wings) offer rigorous perspectives on our civilization's greatest achievement—art.
Genese Grill's "Almandal Grimoire: The Book as Magical Object," is an epic essay on the presence of the physical book in our lives, as well as a look into the nourishment of nuanced ideas. Grill's vivid prose coupled with a philological approach mark it as a work to be astonished by, and envied. Curtis White’s “Wagner’s Passion” is a quasi-roundelay about the strange story of Wagner, Hans Von Bulow, Franz Liszt's daughter Cosima, and, finally, Nietzsche—framed by our celebrity-soaked modern day. It is an honor to present one of our greatest living writers of English, Alexander Theroux, on one of our icons of belles-lettres, Henry David Thoreau. Theroux on Thoreau features a sequence of witty, word-loving verse. And, finally, the sphinx-like John Haskell, known to be persona-ified in his own fictions, takes the reader into the dance studio, where he wrestles with Yvonne Rainer’s Trio A, while delving into the famous dancer’s history and the relatedness and unrelatedness of dancing and writing.
I hope readers will enjoy this special section and I thank the editor, Gabriel Blackwell, for asking me to bring it together.
Best,
Greg Gerke