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Mousse celebrates its 90th issue with a collectible edition, with a special design and format, entirely focused on fiction.
Dear readers,
Why fiction? Because “the problematic implies a terrain to be shared under the aegis of perplexity,” as philosopher Isabelle Stengers points out in her 2023 book Making Sense in Common—a title it would be tempting to steal for this occasion. And because stories help us “to make sense of the world and to act in it,” writes Christina Sharpe in Ordinary Notes (2023).
When we claim that fiction is, quite literally, fiction, we might be wide of the mark. Working with an inventory of emotions, fiction weaves through the heart’s geographies: storms of the century, crying stars, hummable moods that wash over us, highs so high and lows so low we renegotiate cans and cannots. Fiction itches us to get away, while its stoking fire lures us to stay a little longer. Is it about practicing character development? Playing our own shrink? Adding a spring to our step? Articulating the impossible in times of adversity? In the name of whatever it is, fiction has a distinctive way to kiss and tell.
Bringing together a cohort of writers and artists, Mousse #90 – The Fiction Issue stems from the eponymous Fiction column that has dwelled in our pages for five years, and expands its scope. It was developed together with Rosanna McLaughlin, Skye Arundhati Thomas, and Izabella Scott, who collectively coedited the art and literature quarterly The White Review between 2021 and 2023.
Here you’ll find reprints from both Mousse and The White Review as well as new stories and translations we have jointly commissioned. Seven interludes, intended to open up other worlds through images, feature portfolios of drawings by Atelier dell’Errore, Michael E. Smith, Camille Henrot, Michael Landy, Simone Forti, Adelaide Cioni, and Evelyn Taocheng Wang.
What does it mean when we say that fiction has more than meets the eye? It might suggest that, as writer and artist Pierre Guyotat had it, we must “try in jolts, so awkward, to take heart.”
Modern Metronome by Makenna Goodman
Tiny by Eileen Myles
Ghost Story by Pip Adam
Extinction Burst by Elvia Wilk
Pareidolia by Emily LaBarge
Deeper by Lina Meruane (translated by Megan McDowell)
A River by Lisa Robertson
Your Love Is Not Good by Johanna Hedva
The Depression Artist by K Allado-McDowell
I Always Had the Nerve to Do Things in Secret: Sub-Rosa Retrospectives by Estelle Hoy
We Run for Our Lives by Dodie Bellamy
Matthew by Lucy Ives
The Chicken by RZ Baschir
Dog Days by Preti Taneja
The Magic Dollar by Celia Bell
U in a Movie Called The Green Ray by Travis Jeppesen
Butterflies by Geetanjali Shree (translated by Daisy Rockwell)
Stench by Cao Kou (translated by Canaan Morse)
The Voice Imitator by Stephanie LaCava
After the Volcano by Olivia Sudjic
Chuquicamata by Macarena Gómez-Barris
Jobseeking by Sara Abou Ghazal (translated by Katharine Halls).
