{"id":2,"date":"2006-12-28T06:48:02","date_gmt":"2006-12-28T14:48:02","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-02-25T06:54:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:54:32","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Gerke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n

New\u00a0 – Fiction “Portrait” in Hobart\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

“A Pile of Clothes” in Hobart<\/a><\/p>\n

On Rembrandt in Liberties Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Unpublishables Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

Splice published my novel, In the Suavity of the Rock<\/em><\/a>, in 2024. An excerpt is in The Cleveland Review of Books<\/em><\/a>, as well as Minor Literatures<\/em><\/a>, where there was an interview<\/a> as well. Interview<\/a> at Outre. Conversation with Ryan Ruby about the novel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

It was named one of the Best Books of the year by Commonweal Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n

Review by Paul Franz in The Metropolitan Review<\/a><\/p>\n

Promotional film on the novel by Christopher Brunt<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond the Zero Podcast Interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A few words on it by Joseph McElroy:<\/p>\n

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The materials of your novel do branch and multiply like arteries and carry life and are life and always at some point let the analogies reach or settle toward the literal in anchorages of organic fact somewhat beyond what we mean by metaphor. I read it at first — first 40 or 50 pages — as a frankly\u00a0 unflinching, unflinchingly even deliberately banal or awkward memoir type of narrative but the resistance to artifice became an honesty that became art and fiction in the sense of something made. Made again and again of not turning away from what art in fact might resist and It became this other half-indefinable form subtly and stubbornly rich and off-balance suspenseful. Not a plot — distinctly not turning on\u00a0 the absence of the father —\u00a0 so much as an unpredictable veering this way and that always toward elusive or awkward\u00a0 or unmanageable truths and always with a further or prior truth that we might not get there. A risk here that’s a great virtue of the narrative.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And Sam Lipsyte, author of Hark<\/em> and The Ask<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And Jen Craig, author of Wall<\/em> and Panthers and the Museum of Fire:<\/em><\/p>\n

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To read\u00a0In the Suavity of the Rock<\/i>\u00a0is to turn over and over in your hands the marvel of an object that\u2018s been pressed and rubbed by the impossibility of writing, a Bildungsroman turned on its head. Greg Gerke\u2019s debut novel is as sad, wry and darkly bright as a wet slapped coastline \u2014 and as beautiful too.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Christina Tudor-Sideri, author of\u00a0Under the Sign of the Labyrinth<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Disembodied:<\/em><\/p>\n

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A mesmerising exploration of how we depict memory through storytelling, through narration, how memory depicts us through these means, and how, when one puts pen to paper to give voice to memory, what we create becomes something like the memory of memory, aided by the flow of time in its becoming. \u2026\u00a0Time itself flows through this novel. Time as ruination, as chronicler of existence, as both narrator and the story that it tells. From the primordial pleasures of childhood to the routine of later years, time as one reads it in these pages flows and carves a path to where both reader and protagonist escape, and a path to places one escapes from escaping. Fragmented by the serpentine ways of the mind as it faces itself, nonlinear in its crossing, using the narrator as reflection and echo, the book enthrals from first to last word.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rod Moody-Corbett, author of Hides<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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In the<\/i>\u00a0Suavity of the Rock<\/i>\u00a0is ambitious and wise, full of sinuous intimacies.\u00a0Greg Gerke maps the intricate appetites of a mind run amok and he does so with unerring lyricism.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Emily Hall, author of The Longcut<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe see much,\u201d says the narrator of Greg Gerke\u2019s novel, \u201cbut seeing is not enough.\u201d In his fractalish maddening soliloquy he isn\u2019t so much awakened by madeleine moments as assaulted by them, hurtling us through his past\u2019s brutal architecture and his equally brutal assessment of it, returning\u2014and avoiding, and returning\u2014to the consolations of art and to its (god forgive me) limitations. Severe, exhausting, gratifying.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jack Houghteling, author of Sunnyside<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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The sound of Greg Gerke\u2019s voice is that of the suspended line; the fragment is already begun, and you know where the theory says the line goes: straight on until laughter or mewling or fear or revelation or another of the Consubstantiations. But the mastery of Gerke\u2019s art<\/span>\u2014<\/span>and the trust and warmth he builds as a progenitor\u2014is that arrest: What if the ice cream is rage, the nighttime a songbird? \u201cDo you enjoy being enigmatic?\u201d is jocosely asked at one point in the book. But what if the act of measuring\u2014the animacies, the inanimacies and the dark quiet in between\u2014requires it?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Zerogram Press<\/em><\/a> published a new and expanded edition of See What I See<\/em> in April 2021, with an introduction by scholar Steven Moore. Short teaser<\/a> from the unpublished 10K word essay on Eric Rohmer.<\/p>\n

Anthony Domestico reviews See What I See<\/em> in Commonweal<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

LATEST WORK<\/strong>: Don’t Make Me Angry – New fiction at Hobart<\/a><\/p>\n

The Response to Art is Everything – Liberties Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Canetti, Coppola, a Corridor<\/a><\/p>\n

Reading Styles – Medium<\/a><\/p>\n

Back to Coney Island, Back to The Windhover – Medium<\/a><\/p>\n

Reply to All – Hobart<\/a><\/p>\n

No Way to Bresson – The Smart Set<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Live Louise Gl\u00fcck – Cleveland Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

On a Sentence from Joseph McElroy’s Actress in the House<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

On a Sentence of Guy Davenport<\/a><\/p>\n

Serge Daney and Today’s Cinema – LA Review of Books<\/em><\/a><\/h4>\n

“In Relationship” (fiction) – Hobart<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Faulkner’s Ghost in US Fiction – Cleveland Review of Books<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Three short fictions at Propagule\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Year of Hamaguchi (Japanese director) – Verso<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

While Reading Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina<\/em><\/a> – Berfrois<\/em><\/p>\n

“The Latest Scar in Time”<\/a> – On the Seawall<\/p>\n

“Hardwickian” – The Baffler<\/a><\/p>\n

“A New Scar in Time” – The Smart Set<\/a><\/p>\n

On Dreyer’s Gertrud<\/em> – In Review Online<\/a><\/p>\n

“On Being Looked At” – Oxonian Review<\/a><\/p>\n

The story “The 100th Anniversary of The Waste Land” is at The Rupture<\/a><\/p>\n

One Shot in Carlos Reygadas’s Cinema – Caesura Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

See What I See<\/em>-related<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Beyond the Zero Podcast<\/em> interviewed me<\/a><\/p>\n

Michigan Quarterly Review reviews See What I See<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Dialogue with Gabriel Blackwell about our books at Full-Stop<\/a><\/p>\n

Brad Listi interviewed me for his Otherppl Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

Feelish Bookish Podcast interviewed me about Socrates on the Beach<\/em> and the state of large press vs. small press<\/a><\/p>\n

Steven Moore’s Introduction to See What I See<\/em> is now online in the first issue of Exacting Clam<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Interview at 15 Questions<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul Skinner reviewed See What I See<\/em> at his blog<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Via did a video review of See What I See<\/em> at his well-known Leaf by Leaf<\/em> channel<\/a><\/p>\n

Garielle Lutz interviewed me with one question at 3am Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Podcast at 42 Minutes–a conversation about Gass, Gaddis, The Tunnel<\/em>, reading, and writing, etc<\/a><\/p>\n

Volume One Brooklyn has posted an excerpt from the “Paris Doesn’t Belong to Us”<\/a> essay about honeymooning in Paris and going to Parc des Buttes-Chaumont to find a location from Eric Rohmer’s The Aviator’s Wife<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Excerpt from See What I See<\/em>: “The One and Only Autobiographical Writer” in Berfois<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Interview with Jim Gauer about See What I See<\/em> and Novel Explosives<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Dirda reviews See What I See<\/em> at The<\/em> Washington Post<\/em>, along with essay books by D.H. Lawrence and Emmanuel Carr\u00e8re<\/a><\/p>\n

I am editing a new Internet journal called Socrates on the Beach<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Further Work:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Burning the Days” – a short fiction at Berfois<\/a><\/p>\n

“Bedtime” – a short fiction at Ligeia Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Sebald? – Berfois<\/a><\/p>\n

The Story “Just Give Me a Funeral” is at X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

“Merrill Stein: Wallace Stevens Scholar” a fiction, is at Twelve Winters Journal<\/a><\/p>\n

“The Road Not Taken?” – Berfois<\/a><\/p>\n

Review of Kjell Askildsen’s “Everything Like Before” – LA Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

“My Father through the Mann” (on Anthony Mann’s Man of the West<\/em>) at The Smart Set<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Review of Mark de Silva’s Points of Attack<\/em> at Full-Stop<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“Returning to The Dreamlife of Angels” Erick Zonca’s 1998 film – Caesura Magazine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Fiction at On the Seawall<\/em>: “Response”<\/a><\/p>\n

Back to Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict<\/em> – New Critique<\/a><\/p>\n

The First Paragraph of Henry James’s “The Story In It”<\/a><\/p>\n

To Tell or Not to Tell – LA Review of Books<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“Highlight” – The Smart Set<\/a><\/p>\n

The video of \u00a0<\/span>@WUSTLlibraries <\/span>discussion on William Gass’s The Tunnel<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

On Jen Craig’s “Panthers and the Museum of Fire” – Volume One Brooklyn<\/a><\/p>\n

On Alexander Theroux’s An Adultery<\/em> – Full-Stop<\/a><\/p>\n

“The First Movements in William Gass’s The Tunnel<\/em>” – The Tunnel at 25<\/a><\/p>\n

“The Wait” – Fiction at The Kenyon Review<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Review of Alexander Theroux: A Fan’s Notes<\/em> at The Arts Fuse<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

An epistolary piece on reading Faulkner’s The Hamlet<\/em> with Genese Grill at 3am Magazine<\/em> (3 parts)<\/a><\/p>\n

“Past as Epilogue” at The Smart Set<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

I interviewed writer\/translator Genese Grill at LA Review of Books<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“Re-discovering Patrick White” at Music & Literature<\/a><\/p>\n

“Child as Parent” at Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“Guy Davenport as Exemplar” at Essay Daily<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“Why Write?” at The Millions<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“On or About”-excerpt from See What I See<\/em> at 3am Magazine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Splice Interview about writing\/reading Part I\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 2<\/a><\/p>\n

The Wrong Things List (fiction) – 3am Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Unappeasable and Peregrine: Eyes Wide Shut<\/em> – The Smart Set<\/a><\/p>\n

“Descant” a story at Columbia Journal<\/a><\/p>\n

“Paris Doesn’t Belong to Us” in the anthology We’ll Never Have Paris<\/em><\/a>, edited by Andrew Gallix, with more than 70 writers, including Brian Dillon, David Hayden, and Evan Lavender-Smith<\/p>\n

Review of The William H. Gass Reader<\/em> in the North Dakota Quarterly<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

On The Shining<\/em> – The Smart Set<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearer My Hong Sang-soo to Me – MUBI<\/a><\/p>\n

William Gaddis’ Compositional Self – LA Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

“Debut” a story at The Collagist<\/a><\/p>\n

The Letters of Hugh Kenner and Guy Davenport – LA Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

Reading The Cantos<\/em> – Big Other<\/a><\/p>\n

A Year With Wallace Stevens – 3am Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

On First Reformed<\/em> – Big Other<\/a><\/p>\n

On Eating Combos – The Smart Set<\/a><\/p>\n

Return to Naipaul’s The Enigma of Arrival – LA Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

“A Modern” (fiction) – Berfrois<\/a><\/p>\n

Autumn in New York – LA Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewings in Light of the Zeitgeist – 3am Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Remembering William H. Gass – LA Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n

On Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon – MUBI<\/a><\/p>\n

Interview with John Haskell – The Millions<\/a><\/p>\n

Bergman’s Spell – MUBI<\/a><\/p>\n

Helafizzles – 3am Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

“The Condoleezza Rice Fan Club Visits Akron, Ohio” at The Collagist<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

On Toni Erdmann<\/em> and it’s ending at LA Review of Books\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“On or About” – a short essay, at MUBI<\/a><\/p>\n

“Manhattan,” a short fiction, is at Juked<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Mark Greif Interview at LA Review of Books<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

On Divorce<\/a> at Ozy.com<\/p>\n

“Take This Waltz” Then Move On?: Breakups in the Age of Selfish at Mubi.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Review of Joseph Tabbi’s William Gaddis biography at Kenyon Review<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

On William Gaddis’s A Frolic of His Own<\/em><\/a> at The Millions<\/em><\/p>\n

Essay at 3am Magazine – All Hues in His Controlling<\/a><\/p>\n

Arts Fuse Review<\/a> of My Brooklyn Writer Friend<\/em><\/p>\n

Brooklyn Rail<\/em> Review<\/a>\u00a0of My Brooklyn Writer Friend<\/em><\/p>\n

Interview at The Collagist\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

A review of William Gass’s Eyes<\/em> at 3am Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Interview at Electric Literature<\/a><\/p>\n

At Fanzine a short essay, “Envy, the Unsuccessful Writer’s Friend”<\/a><\/p>\n

At MUBI, Mister Fincher and Monsieur Dreyer<\/a>, cinematic despair and rapture<\/p>\n

At Medium\/Human Parts, a piece on Internet Dating<\/a><\/p>\n

At MUBI, On Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

At MUBI, four\u00a0new pieces: Mr. Turner, Boyhood, and Criticism<\/a>,\u00a0Eric Rohmer’s A Winter’s Tale,<\/em><\/a> Carl Dreyer’s Gertrud<\/em> on its 50th Anniversary<\/a>, and a look at French director Jean Gremillion<\/a><\/p>\n

Short story “Such a Sweet Meat” <\/a>is in The Collagist<\/em><\/p>\n

A review of Eric Rohmer: Interviews<\/em>\u00a0is\u00a0in the Summer Issue of\u00a0Film Quarterly\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

An essay <\/a>on Paul Thomas Anderson, envy, and space in film at the\u00a0LA Review of Books<\/em><\/p>\n

On Louise Gluck<\/a> – The Millions<\/p>\n

Greg Gerke\u2019s work has appeared in Tin House, Film Quarterly, The Kenyon Review<\/em>, and other publications. See What I See<\/em>, a book of essays, and Especially the Bad Things<\/em>, stories, were both published by Splice <\/i>in the Autumn of 2019.<\/p>\n

gregorygerke@yahoo.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

Pain Pays the Income of Each Precious Thing – On Barry Lyndon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New\u00a0 – Fiction “Portrait” in Hobart\u00a0\u00a0 “A Pile of Clothes” in Hobart On Rembrandt in Liberties Magazine Unpublishables Podcast Splice published my novel, In the Suavity of the Rock, in 2024. An excerpt is in The Cleveland Review of Books, as well as Minor Literatures, where there was an interview as well. Interview at Outre. … Continue reading Greg Gerke<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895,"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggerke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}