John Allen

John Allen asked Ben Marcus:

Do you feel Surrealism has influenced your work?

Ben Marcus There was a time, when I was 17 or 18, that surrealist painting felt like a huge revelation, and relief. A door opened to a massive territory that I realized I also contained within me, but hadn't known it was ok to release. Surrealism felt immensely liberating, funny, weird, heartbreaking. For a while I could not get enough of it. In writing, Donald Barthelme's work had a similar effect. Incredibly liberating to read.

More Answered Questions

Manuel Abreu

Manuel Abreu asked Ben Marcus:

What, if any, is the relation between language's reduction-to-concept function and the trope in your work of language being physically harmful to use/experience?

Ramon

Ramon asked Ben Marcus:

This is in connection with your love of the short story (& the upcoming anthology you edited). Can you recommend 5-10 best short story collections published 2000 onwards? Thank you very much, Sir!

Megan Grange

Megan Grange asked Ben Marcus:

Are you grammar obsessed (more prescriptive grammar, I guess) at the Gary Lutz/David Foster Wallace level? Are there grammar rules that you still can’t seem to get a grasp on?

All answers from Ben Marcus…

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