Kenyon College Seeks Bookstore Manager

Kenyon College seeks manager to begin next chapter for its campus bookstore with national reputation for its rich literary traditions. Must have experience leading and managing others, ability to network and develop marketing/event opportunities, and interest in relocating to village of Gambier, Ohio or surrounding area. Highly visible (and celebrated) position on campus requires positive, energetic and creative manager with interest in being an active part of the campus and surrounding community. Kenyon College is an EOE. Send a brief statement of interest along with resumé by 7/12 to MKaufman@PazBookBiz.com.

New and Exclusive Fiction, Poetry, Essays and Reviews from The Kenyon Review and KRO

Read Bonnie Jo Campbell's "Boar Taint" and Kevin Young's "I Shall be Released" from the Summer 2008 issue of KR. Read new poetry from Christian Ward, an essay on poet Thom Gunn by Alfred Corn, a review of Daniel Hall's Under Sleep by Janet Chalmers, and a review of Sarah Manguso's The Two Kinds of Decay: A Memoir by Daniel Torday.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to KR Online! A new feature from The Kenyon Review, KRO will be a lively and innovative bridge between the world of the very best print literature and the emerging potential of the electronic universe.

We’ll be offering innovative and delightful stories, poems, essays, memoirs, and reviews online. They will be renewed and refreshed regularly and then collected into electronic “issues” over time.

By and large, pieces appearing electronically will be distinct from work in the printed version of The Kenyon Review. I like to think of those pages as timeless. After all, readers turn to them for pleasure and enlightenment years and even decades after they first appear.

KR Online, however, will definitely be more timely, published more quickly than we’re able to do with print. And the pieces here will also be a little more experimental, a little more “out there.” Who knows?—maybe a little sassier too.

Of course, despite a new flavor, all the great writing on KRO will be held to the same high standards and expectations as The Kenyon Review. They’ll be considered as carefully, copyedited to our exacting standards. This will truly be the best writing from around the world, brought to you in this exciting new medium. After all, it’s our name, our tradition, our reputation on the line as well.

Enjoy. Come back often. And let us know what you think!

David Lynn
Editor

David Lynn: What was the initial draw or inspiration to writing a column such as "The Casual Reader"? How does it differ, both in how you think about and write about these books, from a more formal or traditional sort of review?

André Bernard: The Kenyon Review has a very special kind of reader, someone who reads deeply, enjoys words and sentences and ideas, and who has a wide interest in the world at large. And at the same time the Kenyon reader (I am quite sure) is not fussy or dry or overly rigid. He or she enjoys a variety of intellectual experiences. While reading deeply, he or she does not necessarily expect the book being read to be deep itself. The Kenyon reader reads for many reasons: for learning, for information, for understanding, but also simply and most wonderfully for pleasure.

With this in mind, it seemed to me possible to write up a column about the various books I was reading. I come to the column with no particular expertise or insight, but as a devoted reader of books, which is (for me) the supreme qualification. I read it all--history, biography, thrillers, dated handbooks, cookbooks, serious literature, poetry, junk. A column covering all of the above seemed an interesting challenge and also great fun, perhaps more for me than for the readers of the column. Its name, "The Casual Reader," is just that--representing books I picked up out of simple interest. (The column is also casual enough that I miss my admittedly slack deadlines from time to time, thus verifying the choice of name for the department.) Some of the books are wonderful, some are pretty good, some are just all right. I try not to waste time and space on books that failed or that struck me as lousy.

I write in a casual tone. I hate reviews that try to ascertain meaning in a book, or that ascribe greater properties to an author than the author possesses. For me, the act of reading is a delight. I have little interest in deeper allusions, in symbolism, in the "real meaning" of a novel. Call out the mob with pitchforks if you wish--or simply turn that page and don't read my column. But I just can't stand it when a reviewer pontificates. So I try not to. And you, David, are quick to wield a razor-sharp, anti-pontifical pruning knife at the barest hint of stuffiness, pride, condescension, ego, or superiority. Good!

Read the rest of the conversation.