THE BELIEVER JANUARY 2013

Table of Contents:

But Never a Lovely So Real by Colin Asher
The life and legacy of Nelson Algren, a writer who despite his great acclaim and occasional success always identified with society’s losers.

In Defense of Book by Damion Searls
When will we get the Michael Pollan of reading?

Real Life Rock Top Ten by Greil Marcus

Refer Madness by Robert Cohen
An essay that includes, in its entirety, Kafka’s “The Wish to Be a Red Indian,” as well as a persuasive argument against that wish.

What the Swedes Read by Daniel Handler

Pitch Battles by Colin Dickey
Fraud, conspiracy, and allegations of Nazism in the struggle for an internationally recognized standard musical pitch.

The Process by Caia Hagel
A conversation with artist Polixeni Papapetrou about her photograph The Wanderer #3.

Schema: 200 Years (or so) of Creepy Dolls in Literature by Kylie Byrd

Reviews
Kathleen Rooney on Cathy, Erik Morse on Abdella Taia, and Diana Hamilton on Josef Kaplan.

Musin’s and Thinkin’s by Jack Pendarvis

Bjarke Ingels interviewed by Scott Geiger

Diana Nyad interviewed by Carmen Winant Dany Laferriere in conversation with Alain Mabanckou

Mike Patton interviewed by Ross Simonini

Americans Talk About Their Dogs
“He was literally like a piece of me. Like a fifth limb.”