J. A. Tyler interviews J. A. Tyler: A Re-Review of Stephanie Barber’s Re-Release of These Here Separated to See How They Standing Alone Or the Soundtracks of Six Films

JAT: When did your original review of Stephanie Barber’s These Here Separated— appear in Mud Luscious?

JAT: Issue six. It went online January 2009.

JAT: And this was part of your full-press review of Publishing Genius Press right?

JAT: Right.

JAT: So why have you chosen to re-review this particular text?

JAT: Publishing Genius Press has just released their second edition of Barber’s book, with fantastic new cover art and a re-mastered DVD. Plus, both their re-publication and my review are a bit of paying homage to the beginnings of a press that has come quite a long way in a pretty short time.

JAT: We don’t have to talk about Light Boxes again do we?

JAT: No.

JAT: Good. I mean, come on, dead horse and all.

JAT: I totally understand…it was a good book though.

JAT: Sure, sure. Absolutely. Just–

JAT: –no. I totally get it. No need to explain–

JAT: –good.  So, you’ve read Barber’s book at least twice now—what is different this time around?

JAT: The cover is the most apparent change, and it is enormously different and much much better in my opinion. I love the work that Publishing Genius puts out—

JAT: –You did say this was a kind of homage—

JAT: –Right right. And it is in a way. And this cover is a good way to highlight that. It is the first Publishing Genius book to use endpapers—

JAT: –to clarify for folks who don’t know, that is a different colored paper that appears between the

JAT: –between the cover and the start of the book and between the end of the book and the back cover–

JAT: –beautiful.

JAT: Yes. And this one is bright lime green and matches the titling perfectly. And it is these kind of small touches that make me appreciate Publishing Genius even more every time I engage with a new title. Not that everything should be relegated to aesthetics, but this is something that I think indie presses can often do even better than larger houses, and Publishing Genius does it right on this book for sure.

JAT: Nice. So the new cover is beautiful, but what about the interior. Are there changes to the original?

JAT: None that I can see, none that seem overt or large. Maybe some minor tweaks in typography or some small line-edits, but I am really happy about that because I think the original text was solid and just perhaps needed a new skin in order to appeal to more readers / viewers.

JAT: Can you give us an idea of some good text within These Here Separated—?

JAT: Sure. How about this from “The Inversion, Transcription, Evening Track and Attractor”: Well, we are not sitting on chairs in the middle of the ocean with prosaic fingers ticking time. / Computer tomography scanners and radio telescopes. / A chemical affixed to paper or metal whose properties are changed upon encountering light. Or the utilization of a sensor array like Bayer’s and like so many tiny pools catching and storing light. / Sometimes we look at a photograph to see if something is actual (happened).

JAT: Interesting. And is this passage indicative of the style / vibe of the entire book?

JAT: In a way, yes, in that it is interestingly written, uses a fluid mixture of technical-sided language and yet straight-text. But in another way, no, in that all six texts here are very distinct and vibrant in their own bodies. Some are more poetic, some more ethereal, and some are curt dialogues between characters. Like this from “The Play”: SP: When the show was over we folded up our expectations of greatness. / BP: Yes, carefully—I remember watching you dwell so lovingly on the creases of theatrical emancipation. / SP: Yes, that was a sorrowful packaging. / BP: I’m the sort of person who needs order in my life. / SP: Well, so am I—why do you always assume I thrive on chaos?

JAT: Ah. Also nice. And dialogues. I see. So that is what you are getting at here.

JAT: In part, yes. Guilty.

JAT: Not a very clever guise.

JAT: I know. Sorry about that. I feel a little bad.

JAT: Don’t feel bad. It happens sometimes.

JAT: Sorry anyway, really. But These here Separated—is an interesting book and I think Adam Robinson has done the right moves in bringing this book out of print and back to life.

JAT: Dr. Frankenstein.

JAT: A bit, yes.

JAT: Halloween and all–

JAT: –right, right–

JAT: –sorry–

JAT: –don’t worry about it—

JAT: So there is a new cover and the text is good. Anything else?

JAT: Yes—the DVD. Six films that accompany the texts. Six films that are very artistic, frail in their maneuverability but thick in their endeavors and a really dynamic way for readers to begin having a conversation with Barber’s book. You read it and then you watch the DVD and re-read it as you listen / look. Or you pop the DVD in and you let it read the book to you, while you skim the pages. Or you watch the DVD without reading the book and then read the book later. There are a variety of ways to go about These here Separated— and that conversational push is really what I wanted to talk about here.

JAT: Back to the dialogue again huh?

JAT: Jesus, yes. But come on, I mean it makes sense.

JAT: No, no, I get it, it’s just–

JAT: –a ploy. True.

JAT: But so long as we’re getting Barber’s book talked about–

JAT: –touche–

JAT: –but really, is your review of These Here Separated— any different now from what you said about it in that 2009 issue of Mud Luscious, where you said that—though the pseudo-plays are a good show of wit and wordplay, they also tend to minimize the intensity of Stephanie Barber’s writing, pretending triviality or lightness when in fact her style gravitates more often to bustling and intricate fiction. Thankfully, these interruptions of prose are frequent enough to confirm the complexity and innovation of her word choice and phrasing—

JAT: I still hold to that, though on this reading I found myself seeing less triviality and more artistic haunts in her writing, which is perhaps what has drawn me back to this book again. But yes, the “bustling” and “intricate” descriptors are still absolutely correct in my opinion.

JAT: If we cannot trust ourselves, right?

JAT: Absolutely.

JAT: And if people want to check out more on this book?

JAT: Right here.

JAT: Thanks J. A. It was nice to talk with you. We haven’t talked in awhile.

JAT: Agreed. We should do coffee.

JAT: I’ll text you.

JAT: Okay.