Lit Hub Weekly: October 6 - October 10, 2025

• What a 1977 Czech writers’ manifesto can teach us about “America’s decades-long drift into authoritarianism.” | Lit Hub Politics
• “Pynchon’s United States is never black and white… It’s in the struggle against the cops, it’s in the fight between boss and the workers.” Thomas Pynchon has been warning us about American fascism the whole time. | Lit Hub Criticism
• “There’s something cathartic about reading about the end of the world.” When dystopian fiction gets a little too real. | Lit Hub Craft
• Ed Simon explores Americanism in Edgar Allan Poe’s work (and the abject horrors of being buried alive). | Lit Hub Criticism
• “If the world cannot stop the genocide against us, then at least let it carry our stories. We may not be able to protect our lives, but we can fight to ensure that our story is told.” Mohammed al-Sawwaf on the impossible choice of leaving Gaza or staying to tell his people’s stories. | The Nation
• Elisa Gabbert writes a postmortem for Best American Poetry. | The New York Times
• Matthew Wills examines the history of the Soviet dissident memoir. | JSTOR Daily
• A few things that feel like writing but aren’t, from detangling hair to opening a lobster. | Dirt
• “Do such memoirs succeed where other efforts have failed, or do they only further mystify the animal–human connection?” Rebecca Van Laer on the limits of animal memoirs. | Orion
• Jo Livingstone revisits the “anarchic and surreal vengeance” of Diane DiMassa’s lesbian comic classic, Hothead Paisan. | The New Yorker
• Philip Oltermann untangles the story of the “Pushkin Job”—an international rare book heist. | The Guardian
• Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi reflects on enduring two years of genocide in Gaza. | The Nation
• Orisanmi Burton considers Assata Shakur’s legacy. | Protean Magazine
• “Mallon isn’t always the protagonist you might want, or expect, him to be. Such is the messiness of our diaries.” Sheila McClear on Thomas Mallon’s diaries of the AIDS era, and what happens when private documents become historical sources. | The Nation
• Sloane Crosley considers “Fitzgerald’s prose alcohol content” and the ambivalence of American drinking culture. | The Yale Review
• Angelica Frey explores Nazi occultism and what it can teach us about the nature of fascism. | JSTOR Daily
• David Berry breaks down the financial reality of writing a book without going entirely broke (and yes, it involves finding $100 outside the library). | The Walrus
• “No comedian is in danger of going to jail—or even taken off Netflix—for racist or homophobic material. Suggesting that Charlie Kirk’s killer voted for Trump? That’s another story.” A deep dive into the weird world of “anti-woke” comedy. | The Baffler
• Read from Joe Sacco’s accounts of a history of violence in Uttar Pradesh. | The New Yorker

Also on Lit Hub:

How Ikram Talaat Ahmed transformed Gaza’s displacement tents into schools •  Michelle Gurule on writing about sex work • Why it’s okay that Mira Ptacin’s son doesn’t like to read • On returning to a once-abandoned story • Growing older and forging connection through poetry •  The fight to save a medieval Palestinian library • How the collapse of local journalism can decimate community trust • On Proust, the search for models of translation, and Charlotte Mandell • How corporate tech enshittifies apps to skirt the law • The possibilities of a liberated future for Palestine • Gertrude Stein’s “desire to wring every ounce of meaning from a limited set of words” • Politics, art, and why we write the extra details • The art of getting inside a despicable character’s head • How democracy erodes into fascism • Caren Beilin’s TBR • On motherhood, food, and acts of care • How learning Italian might help your writing in English • Georgiann Davis explains why she isn’t like JD Vance • Maris Kreizman sets the record about censorship straight • The past and present of violence against Indigenous people in California • Raharimanana on Madagascar’s revolutions • When the songwriter behind “I Fought the Law” is your dad • 5 book reviews you need to read this week • New York art world clout at Max’s Kansas City in the 70’s • The sensationalist journalism of Richard Harding Davis • The first English language review of László Krasznahorkai • This week on the Lit Hub Podcast! • Hannah Bonner talks to director Nia DaCosta about Hedda • Why Trump can’t erase the abolitionist history of Harpers Ferry • The best reviewed books of the week • Lessons (and hope!) in the writing of Maria Janion • It’s a miracle that Beowulf survived the Middle Ages • Why it’s okay to embrace your trash first drafts • Gilbert King introduces the case of Leo Schofield