Matthew Battles

   Matthew Battles 

The Manuscript of Belz

The library is collapsing on itself, trying to digest itself. Renovation has turned the whole place into a vast construction site, where tradesmen build temporary walls surrounding temporary walls surrounding temporary walls, ad-hoc postindustrial labyrinths lit by bare bulbs encroaching on the bookstacks. Construction workers come into my office daily, sledgehammering pillars and propping them up again, removing thermostats, ceiling lights, and flooring. It's out of this maze of dust and incandescent light that Brko emerges, bearing apologies and a manuscript—the apologies for his intrusion, and the manuscript for his enrichment. Then again, I suppose that's what his apologies are really for, too.

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Full Article List for Matthew Battles
The Manuscript of Belz, Matthew Battles tells a tale of crafted forgery. Matthew Battles
Frappucino Solo, Starbucks executives briefly flirted with the notion of turning Joe into an academic journal. Matthew Battles
"I Like My Rails", The apparently moralistic Thomas stories replace the ostensibly Christian values of their Anglican author with the utilitarian and Matthew Battles
I After the Cloudy Doubly Beautifully, Matthew Battles discovers Walter Benjamin's translation machine. Matthew Battles
Words and Feathers, Matthew Battles deranges the language. Matthew Battles
Farbe Schwatzen, Matthew Battles uncovers a supernatural chatroom experience with Martha Stewart, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who discuss color. Matthew Battles