Category Archives: Gold in Them Stacks

Ted Mathys in the Stacks: On Cyclones and Call Outs

Posted on March 30, 2016 by

Central Library’s poet-in-residence Ted Mathys reports from Special Collections, where he is exploring the William Marion Reedy Archive. This is the second in a series. In the Stacks is a collaboration between the St. Louis Public Library and Coffee House … Continue reading →

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Ted Mathys in the Stacks: Hall of Mirrors

Posted on March 23, 2016 by

Central Library’s poet-in-residence Ted Mathys reports from Special Collections, where he is exploring the William Marion Reedy Archive. This is the first in a series. In the Stacks is a collaboration between the St. Louis Public Library and Coffee House … Continue reading →

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Tim Rakel’s Subterranean Library

Posted on November 12, 2014 by

Anyone who’s heard Tim Rakel’s music knows that he is a highly literate songwriter. The versatile folk-rock musician and host of KDHX’s Mystery Train program, Rakel works a rich vein of labor history, modernist literature, and urban lore into his … Continue reading →

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The Public Library, by Isaac Babel (1916)

Posted on September 3, 2014 by

At times, working in a glorious old building like this, one can feel haunted by it. There are time warps in the library, and a trip to the stacks can stir up the presence of ghosts. Isaac Babel’s 1916 story … Continue reading →

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Thomas Bernhard: Everybody’s Favorite Austrian Misanthrope

Posted on July 11, 2014 by

I have replaced the screen saver on my work computer with a picture of Thomas Bernhard. He will watch my desk while I am gone. He stares, remorseless, with a hint of humor and contempt, directly at me in my … Continue reading →

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“A Pen Warmed Up in Hell”: Joy Williams at the Paris Review

Posted on June 27, 2014 by

The great Joy Williams is interviewed by Wash U grad Paul Winner in the Summer 2014 issue of the Paris Review. Love this opening anecdote about her giving a craft talk at a university. Instead she discussed Kraft cheese.   … Continue reading →

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National Poetry Month: A Cure for the Word Flu

Posted on April 2, 2014 by

At the moment I’m reading an interesting debut novel called The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon. An English nerd’s paranoid trip, it documents the outbreak of a technologically-induced “word flu” which causes language to become debased and corrosive. Definitions are … Continue reading →

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