Paul Beatty’s Savage Satire Paul Beatty’s Savage Satire
The Sellout takes aim at black middle-class foibles and fantasies.
Jul 30, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Jesse McCarthy
A Traitor Who Writes A Traitor Who Writes
Chinese novelist Yan Lianke on censorship and the dream of getting published without writing drivel.
Jul 27, 2015 / Dispatch / Yan Lianke
Farewell to Citizen Doctorow Farewell to Citizen Doctorow
The novelist’s many essays in The Nation demonstrate his glittering style, eloquence, and firm moral vision.
Jul 23, 2015 / Lived History / Richard Lingeman
July 21, 1899: Ernest Hemingway is Born July 21, 1899: Ernest Hemingway is Born
“No American writer since Walt Whitman has assumed such risks in forging a style.”
Jul 21, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner
July 19, 1898: Emile Zola Flees France After Being Convicted of Libel in the Dreyfus Affair July 19, 1898: Emile Zola Flees France After Being Convicted of Libel in the Dreyfus Affair
“The whole force of will and ferocity of temperament of the man imbedded itself upon the page.”
Jul 19, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner
Letters From the August 3-10, 2015, Issue Letters From the August 3-10, 2015, Issue
Ready or not, here she comes?; the matter with Kansas; resurrecting Berryman; signifying nothing…
Jul 16, 2015 / Letters / Our Readers
July 16, 1951: J.D. Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ Is Published July 16, 1951: J.D. Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ Is Published
“Why has this unpretentious, mildly affecting chronicle of a few days in the life of a disturbed adolescent been read with enthusiasm?”
Jul 16, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner
July 15, 1919: Iris Murdoch Is Born July 15, 1919: Iris Murdoch Is Born
“She is a sophisticated philosopher, and it is her evident aim to put us back in intimate touch with our own being.”
Jul 15, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner
The Passivity Project The Passivity Project
In Rachel Cusk’s fiction, the self is suppressed to the point of destruction.
Jul 2, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Alexandra Schwartz
June 30, 1936: Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone with the Wind’ Is Published June 30, 1936: Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone with the Wind’ Is Published
"Margaret Mitchell gives us our Civil War through Southern eyes exclusively, and no tolerant philosophy illumines the crimes of the invaders."
Jun 30, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner