Hans Eisenbeis

The Narcissist At Work

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With the news that our publisher and son have taken the reins of the ab fab MNSpeak, I was reminded of an ongoing monologue I’ve been developing (I know, among all the other ongoing monologues) about the variety of blogs. Just within any particular medium, there are so many varieties that creating a typology is … Read more

Truth or Dare

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The “white lie”—is there such a thing? Good journalists, they say, have no friends. We have a few, so perhaps we’re doing something wrong. It’s true, though, that anyone who writes for a living makes enemies now and again. Writers of all types are caught on the horns of fact and fabrication. On the one … Read more

More On 24

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James Surowiecki, one of my favorite writers, really ought to be allowed out of his gilded cage at the New Yorker a bit more often, now that he’s perfected the Financial Page (along with the Greatest Unsung Editor of Our Times, Susan Morrison). Well, at least he’s allowed to ask questions through the bars. Yesterday … Read more

Another Day, Another Incredibly Violent Series

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Having spent last week fasting, meditating, flagellating, and otherwise chastening and prostrating ourselves for the important job at hand, this week we’re busy tacking, gluing, hot-waxing, tucking, nipping the new issue–and we’re sure you’ll agree that all this radio-silence at the blog is going to be worth it. (Hint: Nudity! Much nudity!) But something I … Read more

The Fakirs

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Folks everywhere are in a righteous huff about James Frey and his book “A Million Little Pieces,” which turns out to be full of fabrications and embellishments. Years ago, I received the hardcover in the first round of publicity. I myself couldn’t get through the first twenty-five pages, and had no idea it was as … Read more

Housekeeping

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By the way, I wanted to mention that tomorrow night kicks off the new season of The Rake’s monthly happy hour of literature–the one we call “Raking Through Books.” It’s an opportunity to come to our favorite watering hole, Kieran’s Irish Pub, rub elbows with your fellow Rake readers, and, y’know, generally participate in the … Read more

More on J.T. LeRoy

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I read with interest Warren St. John’s continuing investigation as to the “true identity” of J.T. LeRoy. You’ll remember the little dustup about a month ago when New York magazine raised doubts about the real identity of LeRoy, suggesting a person of that name does not actually exist. LeRoy, who has been writing professionally for … Read more

Sounding the Alarm

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A while back, I was saying I thought my old friend Ana Marie Cox deserved to be writing IN the New York Times, rather than being written ABOUT in the New York Times. (I haven’t seen her novel yet, but the fact that she even wrote one hints at the fact that she has some … Read more

Are You Going To Finish That?

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I’ve been reading with interest Ann Bauer’s provoking story at Salon, “Food Slut.” More interesting than the piece, to me, has been the somewhat predictable but volumous flamewar that has erupted among readers who are arguing the finer points of food criticism as it appears in most modern glossy magazines, many of them sawing on … Read more