Evan Dara – The Evan Dara Affinity

Guiding Mose Eakins, Part 2

I needed a framework, an organised structure for breaking down Evan Dara’s play Provisional Biography of Mose Eakins into its fixed and variable components. The solution was a large table, a gridded spreadsheet with time on the vertical axis.

Guiding Mose Eakins, Part 1

by Ned Devere (@edevere17) 1. Pseudonymous I came late to Evan Dara. You see, to entertain myself and a few like-minded others I blog pseudonymously as the pseudonymous author of certain plays and poems written in the 16th century. This requires a lot of homework, a perpetual pile of nonfiction meant to keep me fromContinue reading “Guiding Mose Eakins, Part 1 “

Steven Moore’s List of the Most Impressive Books of 2021

It’s been heartening to see the reaction to Permanent Earthquake, which was released this summer. But it’s especially cockle-warming to see a note of recognition from one of our best contemporary literary critics, Steven Moore. Moore is probably best known for his trailblazing work on William Gaddis, including his Reader’s Guide to William Gaddis’ TheContinue reading “Steven Moore’s List of the Most Impressive Books of 2021”

Permanent Earthquake

It has been 8 years since Evan Dara released his most recent novel, Flee. Today we can announce that Evan Dara’s newest work, Permanent Earthquake, is available to order:http://aurora148.com/permanentearthquake.php Prepare to be rattled. “But is a fall a fall if you don’t stay on the”

Can We Talk About the Fireflies?

Guest Post by Gabe Cweigenberg Can we talk about the fireflies? How about Chomsky? What I mainly want to focus on is the relationship Chomsky has to the book. I guess you could say he’s one of the recurring characters. So, in the fifties, Chomsky introduced his concept of Universal Grammar. A Dara quote isContinue reading “Can We Talk About the Fireflies?”

The Lost Scrapbook – Goodreads Review

“For a book that has no discernible narrator and a multitude of anecdotal scenes which often times don’t resolve themselves and changes literary mid sentence this is a very readable book. Dara has drawn comparisons with Gaddis, especially Gaddis’ debut The Recognitions, but this book I believe is more comparable to Gaddis’ phenomenal JR. CeaselessContinue reading “The Lost Scrapbook – Goodreads Review”

This is Not a Novel

As preparations for the release of Evan Dara's new work are nearing completion, we wanted to let faithful readers know that this is not a novel, but a play set for the stage. There is no need to prematurely evict a Danielewski or a DeLillo from your bookshelves to make space. pic.twitter.com/tc9zptMnPs — Evan DaraContinue reading “This is Not a Novel”

A Reading of The Lost Scrapbook

While updating the resources for this site, I included an expanded entry for a series of posts from a pseudonymous blogger named Ba Jin. Back in the summer of 2015, he offered a memorable chronicle of his first reading of The Lost Scrapbook, which is laced with sharp insights and the inevitable questions that ariseContinue reading “A Reading of The Lost Scrapbook”

Decisions Made Too Fast

This week, I’ve been consumed by the works of a pair of powerful storytellers, whose devotion to detail in chronicling their respective historical sagas is inspiring and daunting. The first is Lacy M. Johnson’s The Fallout, which covers the cover-up of the radioactive legacy of the Manhattan Project, much of which is sitting in the bottomContinue reading “Decisions Made Too Fast”

Postscript on Dara and Gaddis

Last month, I sketched out the case that Manuel Puig may have had more to do with the look and sound of Evan Dara’s novels than William Gaddis. But, while setting it up, I wrote that he had broken his silence on only one occasion, in swatting away Tom LeClair’s query about the influence ofContinue reading “Postscript on Dara and Gaddis”