The online version of Exquisite Corpse, brainchild of novelist, essayist, and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu, recently posted issues five and six as a double release that Codrescu calls the "most humongous Corpse ever released." The term "exquisite corpse" comes from a classic game of narrative-making popular among European surrealists in which different players add the next line to a narrative written on a paper effigy, and this "double issue" suggests both the experimental and protean nature of the journal's inspiration. Indeed, six different departments offer a cornucopia of literary efforts. These departments include Broken News, which features satirical articles on news that never happened and assuredly never will; Critical Urgencies, a collection of polemical rants and essays by notable -- and largely alternative -- poets, scholars, essayists, and fiction writers; Burning Bush, containing recently penned poems and epitaphs; Ficciones, proffering short works of fiction "with minimum concessions to narrative"; Secret Agents, featuring a host of not-your-usual travel narratives from all over the globe; Stage and Screen, an anthology of dramatic works; a gallery of visual arts creations; and EC Chair, featuring commentary on each issue from Codrescu himself. Readers can appear in the Corpse themselves by submitting original materials (detailed instructions are offered), emailing letters -- a selection of which are posted, or joining the discussion list, Corpse Cafe. An archive of the previous four issues, a search engine, and a sizable, annotated list of staff favorite links round out this prodigious e-zine.
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