Vivian Gornick

Vivian Gornick is an essayist and critic. Her next book, Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader, will be published in February.

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

His work, unlike that of Bellow or Roth, focused on the lives of often impoverished Jews in Brooklyn and the Bronx and bestowed on them a literary magic.

Feb 20, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

Janet Malcolm.

Janet Malcolm, Reluctant Memoirist Janet Malcolm, Reluctant Memoirist

Why was one of the most gifted nonfiction writers of her generation so uncomfortable writing about herself?

Feb 20, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

The Radical Life and Times of Crystal Eastman

The Radical Life and Times of Crystal Eastman The Radical Life and Times of Crystal Eastman

A new biography reveals how the feminist, pacifist, labor activist, and socialist fused the best strains of American leftism into one.  

Dec 16, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

Diana Trilling’s Discontents

Diana Trilling’s Discontents Diana Trilling’s Discontents

To keep up with the New York Intellectuals, Diana Trilling forgot—and forgave—nothing.

Jun 1, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

The Essential Ferrante

The Essential Ferrante The Essential Ferrante

How the Italian novelist’s demand to remain anonymous reveals her true identity.

Nov 2, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

Ms. Grief

Ms. Grief Ms. Grief

Out of two new books, Constance Fenimore Woolson emerges as a figure of some dimension in her own right.

Mar 3, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

Anthony Kennedy

The Dread of Loneliness The Dread of Loneliness

Self-definition and equality in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Aug 17, 2015 / Dispatch / Vivian Gornick

Delmore’s Way

Delmore’s Way Delmore’s Way

How the stormy eloquence of Delmore Schwartz made possible the glittering prose of Saul Bellow.

Jun 2, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

When the World Became a Huge Penitentiary

When the World Became a Huge Penitentiary When the World Became a Huge Penitentiary

An eloquent portrait of underground life among the undocumented and the damned of the earth.

Mar 23, 2015 / Encounter / Emma Goldman and Vivian Gornick

Without Respite

Without Respite Without Respite

Seeing not a person but a thing was the crime of crimes for Primo Levi.

Nov 25, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

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