• Literary Criticism

    Memoir

    Encountering Annie Ernaux’s Urban Landscapes and Scattered Selves

    By Lauren Elkin  September 16, 2021
    Mental Illness

    On the Importance of How We Write Mental Illness in Fiction

    By Louise Nealon  September 16, 2021
    Book Dreams

    Sanjena Sathian on the Downfalls of Ambition

    By Book Dreams  September 16, 2021
    The Maris Review

    Lauren Groff Knows You’re Getting Her Book Title Wrong

    By The Maris Review  September 16, 2021
    Literary History

    “Her Novels Were Not For Men.” On Suat Derviş, Turkish Novelist

    By Maureen Freely  September 16, 2021
    Criticism

    Winning the Game You Didn’t Even Want to Play: On Sally Rooney and the Literature of the Pose

    By Stephen Marche  September 15, 2021
    Storytelling

    On the Subversive Power of Gossip

    By Maria Tatar  September 15, 2021
    Classic Novels

    The Gulf Between Aspiration and Accomplishment: Rebecca Mead on Saint Theresa and Middlemarch

    By Rebecca Mead  September 15, 2021
    New York City

    Big Town, Insistent Revolutions: On the Rich, Kaleidoscopic Lives of New Yorkers in Literature

    By Vince Passaro  September 15, 2021
    Ekphrasis

    On the Playwright Sarah Kane and Radical Ekphrasis in Contemporary Poetics

    By Andrea Abi-Karam  September 15, 2021
    new books tuesday

    15 new books to get from your local indie this week.

    By Katie Yee  September 14, 2021
    In Conversation

    Colson Whitehead: Why a Heist Novel Was the Best Way to Tell the Story of New York

    By Dwyer Murphy  September 14, 2021
    The Writing Life

    “Maybe More People Should Have Writer’s Block.” In Which Joy Williams Responds to Our Questions Via Typewriter

    By Joy Williams  September 14, 2021
    Fairy Tales

    Is the Original Pinocchio Actually About Lying and Very Long Noses?

    By John Hooper and Anna Kraczyna  September 14, 2021
    Xenophobia

    How Richard Wright Grappled with Behaviorism, Racism, and Trauma in Native Son

    By George Makari  September 14, 2021
    Big Table

    Dana Gioia on Why Ray Bradbury is So Essential

    By Big Table  September 14, 2021
    Reading Lists

    Water, Water Everywhere: Readings on Life’s Essential Ingredient

    By Giulio Boccaletti  September 14, 2021
    So Many Damn Books

    Julie Shapiro and Claire Boyle on Reversing Roles for the 64th Issue of McSweeney’s

    By So Many Damn Books  September 14, 2021
    On Reading

    The Books That Give Us Chills: On Reading Emotionally

    By Veronica Esposito  September 13, 2021
    Queer Identity

    If I Had Loved Her Less: On a Queer Reading of Henry David Thoreau and the Daily Performance of Manhood

    By Jennifer Finney Boylan  September 13, 2021
    Criticism

    In Celebration of Laurie Colwin’s Lost Manhattan

    By Bethanne Patrick  September 13, 2021
    Classics

    Seeking a More Tranquil Mind? Take Horace’s Advice

    By Alan Jacobs  September 13, 2021
    The History of Literature

    Mike Palindrome Chooses the Top 10 Literary Centuries

    By History of Literature  September 13, 2021
    War

    “I Would Not Take Prisoners.” Tolstoy’s Case Against Making War Humane

    By Samuel Moyn  September 10, 2021
    The Maris Review

    Maggie Nelson on Criticism, Intentionality, and Pain

    By The Maris Review  September 9, 2021
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