Joseph Schreiber
@roughghosts.bsky.social
Reader, writer, editor, lonely wanderer. Based in Calgary, Canada. Write about books at www.roughghosts.com Essays Editor at Minor Literature[s].
You are neither silence nor language: The Answer to Lord Chandos by Pascal Quinard @wakefieldpress.bsky.social
roughghosts.com/2026/01/16/y...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/16/y...
You are neither silence nor language: The Answer to Lord Chandos by Pascal Quinard
Austrian poet, writer and librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal signalled a break with his earlier works when, in 1902, he published the story “A Letter,” also known as “The Lord Chandos Letter.” It is…
roughghosts.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:13 AM
You are neither silence nor language: The Answer to Lord Chandos by Pascal Quinard @wakefieldpress.bsky.social
roughghosts.com/2026/01/16/y...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/16/y...
"he, the Chaldean, stares without blinking, as if his eyelids have been cut off, and he sees time as the fly sees the world, at the same time backward and forward, through morning mist and ground fog, river vapors and evening haze, and through smoke from burning cities"
January 15, 2026 at 8:30 PM
"he, the Chaldean, stares without blinking, as if his eyelids have been cut off, and he sees time as the fly sees the world, at the same time backward and forward, through morning mist and ground fog, river vapors and evening haze, and through smoke from burning cities"
The Flight to Nineveh — Steinar Løding (tr. Jordan Barger) minorliteratures.com/2026/01/15/t...
The Flight to Nineveh — Steinar Løding (tr. Jordan Barger)
in the shade of the human-sized Ricinus bush, with the bagpipe over his shoulder, slumped on top of the slumped horse, hidden by leaves wide as webbed hands, sweating, he solemnly picks one of the …
minorliteratures.com
January 15, 2026 at 8:00 PM
The Flight to Nineveh — Steinar Løding (tr. Jordan Barger) minorliteratures.com/2026/01/15/t...
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
I remember the pleasure of listening to Alta read from her translation in progress back before the pandemic. Glad to see this.
ICYMI My first review of 2026 is one of the last books I finished in 2025. Originally intended for #GermanLitMonth but life got in the way.
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea
As if tugged by an invisible thread, I stroll the same old streets—under linden and chestnut trees, past potholes where water or fallen autumn leaves used to gather and kids used to splash and stom…
roughghosts.com
January 14, 2026 at 4:00 PM
I remember the pleasure of listening to Alta read from her translation in progress back before the pandemic. Glad to see this.
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
reminder that we're open for extracts, reviews, interviews, beefs & texts in Spanish ...
details here:
oleada.io/publication/...
details here:
oleada.io/publication/...
January 13, 2026 at 10:22 PM
reminder that we're open for extracts, reviews, interviews, beefs & texts in Spanish ...
details here:
oleada.io/publication/...
details here:
oleada.io/publication/...
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
subs open .....
"Do I think God will admire me? No. I don’t think God reads anymore. Nothing contemporary, at least."
Feel free to like this Beef as you scroll on by. . . or, yeah, stop & read. Am loving this @minorliteratures.bsky.social feature.
minorliteratures.com/2025/10/29/i...
Feel free to like this Beef as you scroll on by. . . or, yeah, stop & read. Am loving this @minorliteratures.bsky.social feature.
minorliteratures.com/2025/10/29/i...
I Am Afraid to Die
minor beef[s] is a new feature where you can express your literary gripes, complaints and pet hates … Is there a writer you despise who is getting too much praise? a lauded critic whose opinio…
minorliteratures.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:57 PM
subs open .....
"I think there is something about the ongoing existence of beings and things even if the memory of them has been erased. But then, are they no more?"
"[If] we do not borrow and try on otherness [...] it will become increasingly difficult for us to accept and realize the myriad of elements that really understanding others requires ..."
An Interview with Jennifer K. Dick — Nina Zivancevic
minorliteratures.com/2026/01/13/m...
An Interview with Jennifer K. Dick — Nina Zivancevic
minorliteratures.com/2026/01/13/m...
“[M]y books share my natural openness to loose connectivity, grammatical fluidity, and promotion of connections related to word sounds over specific meaning:” An Interview with Jennifer K. Dick — Nina...
The phenomenon of Jennifer K. Dick’s bilingualism all started for me at Ivy Writers Paris, a cycle of bilingual readings that she has organized for nearly twenty years. It was there in the early 20…
minorliteratures.com
January 13, 2026 at 8:08 PM
"I think there is something about the ongoing existence of beings and things even if the memory of them has been erased. But then, are they no more?"
“[M]y books share my natural openness to loose connectivity, grammatical fluidity, and promotion of connections related to word sounds over specific meaning:” An Interview with Jennifer K. Dick — Nina Zivancevic minorliteratures.com/2026/01/13/m...
“[M]y books share my natural openness to loose connectivity, grammatical fluidity, and promotion of connections related to word sounds over specific meaning:” An Interview with Jennifer K. Dick — Nina...
The phenomenon of Jennifer K. Dick’s bilingualism all started for me at Ivy Writers Paris, a cycle of bilingual readings that she has organized for nearly twenty years. It was there in the early 20…
minorliteratures.com
January 13, 2026 at 7:22 PM
“[M]y books share my natural openness to loose connectivity, grammatical fluidity, and promotion of connections related to word sounds over specific meaning:” An Interview with Jennifer K. Dick — Nina Zivancevic minorliteratures.com/2026/01/13/m...
ICYMI I wrote about this engaging essay about the slippery line between an and beast. Translated by Kári Driscoll.
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer
Just exactly where can we draw the line between human and animal, man and beast, and exactly how fuzzy (or furry?) is that line? How has our understanding of movement across that line changed over …
roughghosts.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:29 AM
ICYMI I wrote about this engaging essay about the slippery line between an and beast. Translated by Kári Driscoll.
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer, translated by Kári Driscoll
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer
Just exactly where can we draw the line between human and animal, man and beast, and exactly how fuzzy (or furry?) is that line? How has our understanding of movement across that line changed over …
roughghosts.com
January 11, 2026 at 11:01 AM
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer, translated by Kári Driscoll
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer, translated by Kári Driscoll
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer
Just exactly where can we draw the line between human and animal, man and beast, and exactly how fuzzy (or furry?) is that line? How has our understanding of movement across that line changed over …
roughghosts.com
January 11, 2026 at 11:01 AM
People look so human: Becoming Animal by Teresa Präauer, translated by Kári Driscoll
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/11/p...
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
This 1st North American edition of a wonderful book of Murnane’s linked stories published next week!
Great to see @andotherstories.bsky.social will publish the first U.S. version of Gerald Murnane’s wonderful collection of stories, “Landscape With Landscape” in Jan. 2026. Info & pre-orders available here — along with a link to a review I wrote about the book! www.andotherstories.org/landscape-wi...
Landscape with Landscape | And Other Stories
Now published for the first time outside of Australia, Landscape with Landscape was Gerald Murnane’s fourth book, after The Plains, […]
www.andotherstories.org
January 9, 2026 at 5:25 PM
This 1st North American edition of a wonderful book of Murnane’s linked stories published next week!
A lyrical essay by @zissenberg.bsky.social to wrap up the first week of 2026 . . .
January 8, 2026 at 9:17 AM
A lyrical essay by @zissenberg.bsky.social to wrap up the first week of 2026 . . .
"I think the desire for an apocalypse is like nostalgia, selfish. Maybe it’s more the fact I savor melancholy, that I resist the desire to live unconflicted in memories."
@zissenberg.bsky.social
Apocalypso in Dreamtime — Zachary Issenberg minorliteratures.com/2026/01/08/a...
@zissenberg.bsky.social
Apocalypso in Dreamtime — Zachary Issenberg minorliteratures.com/2026/01/08/a...
Apocalypso in Dreamtime — Zachary Issenberg
I live in possession of the feeling that a great, soft rain is just beyond my reach. Growing up within the rainy seasons of Miami has provided me lifetimes of dreams I can’t recall, except for the …
minorliteratures.com
January 8, 2026 at 9:12 AM
"I think the desire for an apocalypse is like nostalgia, selfish. Maybe it’s more the fact I savor melancholy, that I resist the desire to live unconflicted in memories."
@zissenberg.bsky.social
Apocalypso in Dreamtime — Zachary Issenberg minorliteratures.com/2026/01/08/a...
@zissenberg.bsky.social
Apocalypso in Dreamtime — Zachary Issenberg minorliteratures.com/2026/01/08/a...
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
"In my imagination, the naked word is capable of splitting life in two and bringing about a metamorphosis ..."
An Interview with Antonio Moresco
minorliteratures.com/2026/01/07/i...
An Interview with Antonio Moresco
minorliteratures.com/2026/01/07/i...
“I am not a peaceful man or a peaceful writer”: An Interview with Antonio Moresco — Tobias Ryan
After fifteen years of writing in obscurity, Antonio Moresco published his first book in 1993 at the age of 45, followed over the next decade with Giochi dell’eternità, the epic trilogy that …
minorliteratures.com
January 7, 2026 at 5:54 PM
"In my imagination, the naked word is capable of splitting life in two and bringing about a metamorphosis ..."
An Interview with Antonio Moresco
minorliteratures.com/2026/01/07/i...
An Interview with Antonio Moresco
minorliteratures.com/2026/01/07/i...
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
‘I love simple, elementary forms; I do not seek linguistic complexity for its own sake, because in order to see deep into the sea, the water must be clear, not clouded by foam.’
‘For me, compositional unity is the radical nakedness of the word, of the voice, of song.’ 🙏❤️!
‘For me, compositional unity is the radical nakedness of the word, of the voice, of song.’ 🙏❤️!
January 7, 2026 at 9:22 AM
‘I love simple, elementary forms; I do not seek linguistic complexity for its own sake, because in order to see deep into the sea, the water must be clear, not clouded by foam.’
‘For me, compositional unity is the radical nakedness of the word, of the voice, of song.’ 🙏❤️!
‘For me, compositional unity is the radical nakedness of the word, of the voice, of song.’ 🙏❤️!
“I am not a peaceful man or a peaceful writer”: An Interview with Antonio Moresco — Tobias Ryan minorliteratures.com/2026/01/07/i...
“I am not a peaceful man or a peaceful writer”: An Interview with Antonio Moresco — Tobias Ryan
After fifteen years of writing in obscurity, Antonio Moresco published his first book in 1993 at the age of 45, followed over the next decade with Giochi dell’eternità, the epic trilogy that …
minorliteratures.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:05 AM
“I am not a peaceful man or a peaceful writer”: An Interview with Antonio Moresco — Tobias Ryan minorliteratures.com/2026/01/07/i...
ICYMI My first review of 2026 is one of the last books I finished in 2025. Originally intended for #GermanLitMonth but life got in the way.
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea
As if tugged by an invisible thread, I stroll the same old streets—under linden and chestnut trees, past potholes where water or fallen autumn leaves used to gather and kids used to splash and stom…
roughghosts.com
January 7, 2026 at 1:45 AM
ICYMI My first review of 2026 is one of the last books I finished in 2025. Originally intended for #GermanLitMonth but life got in the way.
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
"I’m seventeen, obsessed with the Anna Karina fringe, my (perceived) sex appeal. I’ve called the suicide line twice this year, only to punish — myself, or them, or both of us."
Streetlights — Sharon Xuanling Zhang minorliteratures.com/2026/01/06/s...
Streetlights — Sharon Xuanling Zhang minorliteratures.com/2026/01/06/s...
Streetlights — Sharon Xuanling Zhang
This year, I’m getting rid of everything that doesn’t serve me. E.g. after I graduated, I chucked all my shit into this big polyester bag then burnt it on the beach in Coolangatta, my hand chewing …
minorliteratures.com
January 6, 2026 at 8:34 PM
"I’m seventeen, obsessed with the Anna Karina fringe, my (perceived) sex appeal. I’ve called the suicide line twice this year, only to punish — myself, or them, or both of us."
Streetlights — Sharon Xuanling Zhang minorliteratures.com/2026/01/06/s...
Streetlights — Sharon Xuanling Zhang minorliteratures.com/2026/01/06/s...
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
thank you to everyone who submitted texts over the winter — we'll try to get responses out as soon as possible, but please keep in mind we are a small team of volunteers
if you haven't had a response after 3 months, you can get in touch but there's no call to contact us before then
if you haven't had a response after 3 months, you can get in touch but there's no call to contact us before then
January 5, 2026 at 7:40 PM
thank you to everyone who submitted texts over the winter — we'll try to get responses out as soon as possible, but please keep in mind we are a small team of volunteers
if you haven't had a response after 3 months, you can get in touch but there's no call to contact us before then
if you haven't had a response after 3 months, you can get in touch but there's no call to contact us before then
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
"...a dying empire is a dangerous beast and will extract a big price in blood for its decline. The more desperate it becomes, the more reckless it grows, even without such a notoriously dozy, incompetent and self-aggrandising leadership."
- Richard Seymour
- Richard Seymour
January 6, 2026 at 12:18 AM
"...a dying empire is a dangerous beast and will extract a big price in blood for its decline. The more desperate it becomes, the more reckless it grows, even without such a notoriously dozy, incompetent and self-aggrandising leadership."
- Richard Seymour
- Richard Seymour
Reposted by Joseph Schreiber
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea, translated by Alta L Price
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea
As if tugged by an invisible thread, I stroll the same old streets—under linden and chestnut trees, past potholes where water or fallen autumn leaves used to gather and kids used to splash and stom…
roughghosts.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:11 AM
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea, translated by Alta L Price
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea, translated by Alta L Price
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea
As if tugged by an invisible thread, I stroll the same old streets—under linden and chestnut trees, past potholes where water or fallen autumn leaves used to gather and kids used to splash and stom…
roughghosts.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:11 AM
I’m often out of step with the times: An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence by Dana Grigorcea, translated by Alta L Price
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...
roughghosts.com/2026/01/05/i...