Tag Archives: Michael Brodsky

For the Sake of Darkling Playfulness: Michael Brodsky’s “Invidicum” Part Three

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

Packet Five: The aesthetics/ethics dyad I want now to produce a two-headed packet; it really needs two heads, trust me (by the way, this is not the first time Invidicum has recalled for me Brodsky’s novel Dyad, but I digress). … Continue reading →

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Consciousness as a Sledgehammer: Michael Brodsky’s “Invidicum” Part Two

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

Packet Two: The art of fiction is a weird activity Because Henry James and weirdness were issued on the same breath the Rubicon has brought us successfully to Packet Two. Borges thought James’ The Abasement of the Northmores one of … Continue reading →

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Michael Brodsky’s “Invidicum” Part One

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

I am at a loss how to begin a “review” of Michael Brodsky’s astonishing opus Invidicum (published by Tough Poets Press and illustrated by the great Michael Hafftka), not only because I’ve never read anything like it (apart, that is, … Continue reading →

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Book Gift Recommendations

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Mark Kerstetter

None of the arts are more varied or bewildering than the visual arts. For that person in your life who would like an overview, I don’t know of a better one than The Art of Looking at Art, or a … Continue reading →

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Gombrowicz and Melville: Twilight

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Mark Kerstetter

I’ve written about the twilight world being the liminal space where poetry flourishes in relation to the poetry of John Ashbery and Alfred Corn and to the novels of Michael Brodsky. Today I’d like to give another example, this time … Continue reading →

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Tarkovsky and Buñuel

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Mark Kerstetter

I’m new to the films of Tarkovsky, and have become obsessed with them. Yet with the peculiar itch typical of my mind my thoughts on his work keep slipping into thoughts on my favorite filmmaker, Luis Buñuel.

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Michael Brodsky: Writing as Exposure

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

The individual who has not risked his life may well be recognized as a person, but he has not attained to the truth of this recognition as an independent self-consciousness. —Hegel …. if you go on struggling to name…. you … Continue reading →

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Rousselian Cliffhangers and Other Challenges in Michael Brodsky’s ***

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Mark Kerstetter

*** is a novel by Michael Brodsky published in 1994. The title consists solely of three asterisks, making it virtually unpronounceable and unsearchable on the internet. Rather than pass over the name in silence while reading (interesting that the mind … Continue reading →

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Sometimes You’re the Bug

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Mark Kerstetter

I’ve been singing The Bug while I do my work lately. It started with needing to replace a piece of trim on the carriage house (fancy word for garage). Uncovering one piece of wasted wood revealed another, and then others. … Continue reading →

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Writing ‘Down Impassive Rivers I Tried Each Thing’

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Mark Kerstetter

The poem came about through my interest in a single word: packet. About a week ago I discovered one of my favorite writers—Michael Brodsky—has been writing a blog going by the description “thought packets”. I tried to explain the thrill … Continue reading →

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