Click here to read the essay.
Tag: The Strangest
An excerpt from “The Strangest” published by The Offing
The Offing published an excerpt from THE STRANGEST, specifically the murder scene, which acts as a sort of pivot point in the narrative, concluding the first part of the narrative.
Click here for the excerpt.
Tobias Carroll interviewed me about “The Strangest” for Volume 1 Brooklyn
Tobias Carroll interviewed me about Albert Camus, multi-tasking, THE STRANGEST, identity as a literary theme, and more for Volume 1 Brooklyn.
It’s true. I’m fascinated with identity. It’s one of the most important aspects of an individual in the face of a society that quickly judges and forms assumptions upon the nature of the individual’s identity. There are a number of basic questions that open up what I feel to be seemingly endless curiosities: How much of an individual’s identity is manufactured by their upbringing? How much of it is under direct control of the individual, capable of sculpting and/or designing a persona? What kind of effects does society inflict upon the ideal identity? Are we able to evolve our identities by choice as we navigate through society’s various pressures, responsibilities, and hurdles, or are we essentially steeling, dispelling/redesigning in order to slip past? Why is it so difficult to abide by a more honest and open identity than one that is layered so as to be (seemingly) more complex, enigmatic, and impossible to fully comprehend?
Click here for the full interview.
“The Strangest” reviewed by Kirkus Reviews
“A smart adaptation indeed of a hallowed classic, repositioning it for a grimmer world three-quarters of a century on.”
Click here for the full review.
“The Strangest” reviewed at The Modern Review
“Seidlinger’s reworking of Camus’ at once didactic and chic platform for the 20th Century man, is insightful, well-executed, and efficient.”
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Scott Esposito recommended “The Strangest” over at Conversational Reading
“Every bit as affectless as Camus’s Stranger, his smartphone is his only lifeline of communication with people, even when they’re right on the subway with him.”
Click here for the full article.
“The Strangest” included in Volume 1 Brooklyn’s October 2015 Books Preview
The Strangest was included among other amazing October new releases like Lincoln Michel’s Upright Beasts in Volume 1 Brooklyn’s October 2015 Books Preview. As always, Tobias Carroll and Jason Diamond are on the pulse of indie and contemporary lit.
This is, apparently, the year for literary riffs on Camus’s The Stranger. Earlier in the year, Kamel Daoud’s The Mersault Investigation examined its themes from an Algerian perspective; now, Michael J. Seidlinger’s The Strangest updates its tale of alienation to the present day.
Click here for the full article.
Heather Fowler interviewed me for Fictionaut
Heather Fowler interviewed me for Fictionaut’s Writers on Craft series. Here’s a snippet from the interview:
Oddly, I find solace in the grim details of a text, the ones that bare all and show the reader that there are no clean breaks, no certainties without dealing with the issue head-on. It’s when I see that what I am feeling isn’t any different than what so many others have felt that I begin to breathe normally again, perhaps even long enough to step outside and remember what it feels like to take a long walk with no clear destination in mind.
Click here for the full interview.
Michael J. Seidlinger 