Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture, Field Notes,
An Exercise from Matt Bell’s Writing Exercise Newsletter
In the name of productivity during social distancing, Porter House Review is republishing Matt Bell’s first exercise from his Writing Exercise Newsletter, which is based on a sentence from Carmen Maria Machado’s story, “The Husband Stitch.”
Arts & Culture, Field Notes,
Decorum and Dare: Crafting the Interview’s Energy
Most people want to be heard. The interview, however daunting that term may seem, is essentially just a conversation in which both participants agree to dance without looking away, fielding the stumbles and rises.
Arts & Culture, Field Notes,
On Writing Women, and Some Thoughts About Hyacinths
I often find myself reading female characters written by men and wondering if they have ever met a woman before. I find this even more disheartening when these men are my colleagues and I know they have met women before (because I am one of those women), but their female characters are flat or over-sexualized or they don’t speak the same language.
Arts & Culture, Field Notes,
Ambiguity and Anxiety: In Which a Queer Poet Reflects on Queer Poetry
Why is [otherness] so hard to portray joy without fear, without anxiety? How can we write about it without it becoming defiant, resistant, or political? There are times when I don’t think we can. Or, at least, I don’t think I can. But that’s more my own personal tragedy, really.
Arts & Culture, Field Notes,
Permanently Scared: A Mother’s “Fictional” Nightmares
While [Karen Russell’s] story includes fantastical elements—namely, a chimerical creature manipulating a scared mother to satisfy its addiction to breastmilk—it also powerfully captures the everyday horrors of new motherhood.