On Lucy Ives

The writer, poet, curator, and professor Lucy Ives isn’t shy about her influences. In her 2022 novel, Life is Everywhere, she included a postscript letter, explaining the genesis of the novel and professing a love for Ursula K. Le Guin. She then oversaw a collection of works by conceptual artist, poet, and architect Madeline Gins, and a “phantasmagoria” pulled from federal photo archives. In her 2024 foray into nonfiction, An Image of My Name Enters America, she included a three-page syllabus and extensive footnotes. So when Ives’s new project was announced, featuring the subtitle: “an inexhaustible compendium for writing,” I assumed I knew what was to be expected. I expected that the book would explore Ives’ interest in graphomania, a psychiatric condition that causes an obsessive compulsion to write.