Best of the Web 2008

When we heard about Dzanc’s new collection of the best writing on the web, we thought, “That’s a great idea—for 1998.”

The truth is that for all of the teeth-gnashing in the publishing world over the death of print and the rise of the Internet, these days there really isn’t much argument over whether the writing online is any good. In other words: The medium is moot when it comes to arguing quality.

And if nothing else, this collection of the best work culled from some of the better-known (Fail Better) and lesser-known (BathHouse) literary sites proves the point. Not only is there great work from new writers, but established vets like George Saunders, Jonathan Ames and Edward Hirsch occupy these pages. Chicagoan Elizabeth Crane kicks off the collection with the lovely “Promise,” which closes out her latest story collection, You Must Be This Happy to Enter. These are the same writers who are being published in major magazines, as well.

Where the book, which canvasses both fiction and poetry, really cooks is in the melding of the two genres. David Willems’s flash fiction, “A Girl Made of Glass,” collapses in on itself after just a page and a half. Arlene Ang’s prose poem, “Ceremonial Spoon,” lasts all of 12 lines but haunts for much longer. The Internet is built for this work: short and weird, just what one’s attention span wants when clicking through. And Almond and Leslie wisely pick up on that, making the book worth paging through, as well.