In The Genocide House—the American—maelstrom—The world—delirium—
Villages—slaughtered and burned—Cities eradicated—in atomic flame—
The Genocide House by Robert Kloss is a compendium of American atrocities, as violently
blurred and self-obliterating as history itself. From King Philip’s War to the Industrial
Revolution, from the trials of Leopold and Loeb to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, from the living room of an Oppenheimer-esque scientist to exploded fields across time, Kloss takes us through the interconnected floors, corridors, and secret chambers of the American Genocide House. In the words of Babak Lakghomi, The Genocide House is “poetic and hallucinatory, a visceral novel of visionary power.” In the words of Kent Wascom, it is “a black and brilliant jewel, with each slashing sentence carving facets one darker and sharper than the next.” And in the words of Johannes Göransson, “It might be Kloss’s best novel yet, adding an inventive, powerful book to a growing authorship that has flourished outside the mainstream channels of U.S. literature.”
This event will celebrate the Bridge Books release of The Genocide House with live readings from four authors (Olivia Cronk, Johannes Göransson, Meghan Lamb, and Robert Kloss himself) along with a performance by legendary Chicago musician Mark Solotroff.
Olivia Cronk is the author of WOMONSTER (Tarpaulin Sky, 2020), Louise and Louise and
Louise (The Lettered Streets Press, 2016), and Skin Horse (Action Books, 2012).
Johannes Göransson is the author of ten books of poetry and criticism – including The New
Quarantine (2023) and Summer (2022) – and is the translator of several books of poetry,
including works by Aase Berg, Eva Kristina Olsson, Ann Jäderlund, Helena Boberg and Kim Yideum. His poems, translations and critical writings have appeared in a wide array of journals in the US and broad, including Fence, Lana Turner, Poetry Magazine, Spoon River Review, Modern Poetry in Translation (UK), Kritiker (Denmark) and Lyrikvännen (Sweden). His is a professor in the English Department at the University of Notre Dame and – together with Joyelle McSweeney, Paul Cunningham and Katherine Hedeen – edits Action Books.
