John Gardner’s career was permanently changed by his publication of On Moral Fiction (1978), a controversial and derided assessment of the state of literature as Gardner saw it. By arguing for a return to greater seriousness and moral commitments in literature, Gardner found himself attacked on all sides by critics and writers who found his conservatism suspicious or simply irrelevant. In this short tribute to Gardner’s late intellectual concerns, Phil Jourdan looks at some of the difficulties in On Moral Fiction, and asks whether Gardner was rigorous enough in his deployment of various philosophical concepts through his book. Convinced that, despite any problems of argumentative method or intellectual honesty, On Moral Fiction‘s basic message should not be dismissed outright, Jourdan tries to determine what is superfluous to the book, so that we may focus on its core: a call for writers not to forget their moral influence on readers. Now that Gardner’s career is half-forgotten, it is worth remembering this impassioned and public debate on the role of literature has been around far longer than we care to pretend: throughout the centuries, as literature attempts to define itself over and over, the question of morality is always lurking in the background. In John Gardner: A Tiny Eulogy, Phil Jourdan tries to separate the man from the argument, and insists that the latter should not be dismissed because of the imperfection of the former.

John Gardner: A Tiny Eulogy

Literature & Fiction

Jourdan, Phil

History & Criticism

Punctum Books

Klondike: A Game of Ears

A hilarious parody of the detective genre, Klondike is the story of a private eye whose efforts to preserve his moral integrity turn out to be doomed as he finds himself playing a lethal, slightly wacky game in which ears are severed and puns are exchanged.

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Lulu Enterprises, UK Ltd

lulu.com

Uncle Manny

<p>When Phil Jourdan's mother died suddenly in 2009, she left behind a legacy of kindness and charity; but she also left unanswered some troubling questions. Was she, as she once claimed, a spy? Had she suffered more profoundly as a woman and parent than she'd let on? Jourdan's recollections of his struggles with psychosis, and his reconstructions of conversations with his enigmatic mother, form the core of this memoir. Psychoanalysis, poetry and confession all merge to tell the story of an ordinary woman whose death turned her into a symbol for extraordinary motherhood.</p>

Praise of Motherhood

Biographies & Memoirs

Reference & Collections

Zer0 Books

This is the first collection of creative writing-related interviews originally posted on Mourning Goats, a website founded by the mysterious Mr Goat. Over a year of mostly anonymous work, the Goat managed to interview some of the most exciting English-language authors around. Edited by Phil Jourdan and the Goat himself, and featuring expanded interviews not available online, Chewing the Page offers a series of weird and hilarious glimpses at the world of writing. Includes interviews with Stephen Graham Jones, Craig Clevenger, Paul Tremblay, Donald Ray Pollock, Stephen Elliott, Chad Kultgen, Chelsea Cain, Rick Moody, Christopher Moore and Nick Hornby, and others.

Chewing the Page: The Mourning Goats Interviews

Self-Help

Creativity

Perfect Edge

<p>In this incomparably brilliant and timeless masterpiece of unrelenting cruelty, two unhappy souls; restless, tormented Rebecca and the harmless mediocrity, McGeeee, find themselves caught in an infinite regress of shifting identities and memories. Rebecca seeks transcendence, an escape from a life she does not know how to live. McGeeee, meanwhile, seems to have no self to speak of, wandering from situation to situation without a sense of purpose. Their relationship has multiple origins, infinite endings and no conclusion. At the heart of this non-story is an unforgivable family secret from generations past. It's none of your business, but go on, have a peek, you cheeky bastard.</p>

When Thinking is the Screaming of the Soul: A Non-Story

Literary

Madre, in memoriam

Carpe Noctem

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Books by Jourdan, Phil