Literary Hub » Ed Simon

The Work Behind the Writing: On Writers and Their Day Jobs

The Work Behind the Writing: On Writers and Their Day Jobs

Ed Simon Explores the Relationship Between Labor and Literary Passion

By Ed Simon | January 14, 2026

Making Meaning: Why Symbolic Interpretation Matters in Art and Literature

Making Meaning: Why Symbolic Interpretation Matters in Art and Literature

Ed Simon on Defending the Symbolic and René Magritte’s Le Coeur du Monde

By Ed Simon | December 23, 2025

Nothing Better Than a Whole Lot of Books: In Praise of Bibliomania

Nothing Better Than a Whole Lot of Books: In Praise of Bibliomania

Ed Simon Considers the Many Different Ways an Obsession Can Manifest

By Ed Simon | November 24, 2025

To Haunt and Be Haunted: On the Exhumation of Edgar Allan Poe

To Haunt and Be Haunted: On the Exhumation of Edgar Allan Poe

Ed Simon Explores the Terror of Being Buried Alive and Americanism in Poe’s Work

By Ed Simon | October 8, 2025

On the Limits of Language at the End of the World

On the Limits of Language at the End of the World

Ed Simon Considers How We Talk About the Climate Apocalypse

By Ed Simon | September 24, 2025

The Tragedy and Comedy of <em>Don Quixote</em>

The Tragedy and Comedy of Don Quixote

How the Kidnapping of Miguel de Cervantes Shaped His Famous Novel

By Ed Simon | September 22, 2025

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

Hiroshima at Eighty: Contemporary Literature as a Product of the Post-Nuclear World

By Ed Simon | August 18, 2025

Hypergraphia: On Prolific Writers and the Persistent Need to Produce

By Ed Simon | July 21, 2025

The Dark Magic of Words: Why Fascism and Illiberalism Are So Seductive to Writers

By Ed Simon | June 23, 2025

L. Frank Baum’s Literary Vision of an American Century: <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> at 125 Years

L. Frank Baum’s Literary Vision of an American Century: The Wizard of Oz at 125 Years

Ed Simon on Grifters, the Chicago World Fair, and Oz as Symbol of a Modern USA

By Ed Simon | May 16, 2025

American Literature’s White Whale: Why the “Great American Novel” is Still Worth Pursuing

American Literature’s White Whale: Why the “Great American Novel” is Still Worth Pursuing

Ed Simon on the Importance of Chasing an Elusive Literary Ideal in an Era of National Decline

By Ed Simon | April 2, 2025

Punk, Poet, Prophet: In Praise of the Late, Great Shane MacGowan

Punk, Poet, Prophet: In Praise of the Late, Great Shane MacGowan

Ed Simon on One of Music’s Great Lyricists

By Ed Simon | March 17, 2025

In Praise of <em>Wonder Boys</em> (Both the Book AND the Movie)

In Praise of Wonder Boys (Both the Book AND the Movie)

Ed Simon on Michael Chabon’s Iconic Campus Novel at 30

By Ed Simon | February 25, 2025

“Anarchism Means That You Should Be Free.” On the Literature of Liberation

“Anarchism Means That You Should Be Free.” On the Literature of Liberation

Ed Simon Considers the Life Alexander Berkman, Anarchist, Would-Be Assassin, and 19th-Century Luigi Mangione

By Ed Simon | January 27, 2025

How Walter Benjamin’s Iconic Antifascist Essay Escaped Europe

How Walter Benjamin’s Iconic Antifascist Essay Escaped Europe

Ed Simon on the Enduring Political Relevance of Benjamin’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History”

By Ed Simon | December 13, 2024

In Praise of Print: Why Reading Remains Essential in an Era of Epistemological Collapse

In Praise of Print: Why Reading Remains Essential in an Era of Epistemological Collapse

Ed Simon on What Sven Birkerts Got Right in “The Guttenberg Elegies”

By Ed Simon | November 25, 2024

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