Lab Test: Who Profits From Scientific Research? Lab Test: Who Profits From Scientific Research?
Does the profit motive distort and degrade the unpredictable path of scientific discovery?
Feb 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Letters Letters
Postcard From Nebraska Dannebrog, Neb.
Dec 17, 2008 / Letters / Our Readers and William Deresiewicz
How Wood Works: The Riches and Limits of James Wood How Wood Works: The Riches and Limits of James Wood
James Wood may be the best literary critic we have, but the status he enjoys reveals just how far we have fallen.
Nov 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Seeing Past the Ivy: Do Literary Mandarins Put Reading At Risk? Seeing Past the Ivy: Do Literary Mandarins Put Reading At Risk?
Why the commentariat's response to hand-wringing about "the decline of reading" condescends to the large mass of nonspecialist readers.
Oct 21, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Homing Patterns: Marilynne Robinson’s Fiction Homing Patterns: Marilynne Robinson’s Fiction
Marilynne Robinson's new novel explores faith, loneliness and the national passion play of race.
Sep 24, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Salman Rushdie’s Imaginative New ‘Enchantress of Florence’ Salman Rushdie’s Imaginative New ‘Enchantress of Florence’
Salman Rushdie probes the limits of the imagination to produce his most coherent and readable novel.
Aug 27, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Dead Letters Dead Letters
Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig saw himself as a Freud of fiction--a fellow spelunker in the caverns of the heart.
May 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Professing Literature in 2008 Professing Literature in 2008
Why is the intellectual agenda of English departments being set by teenagers?
Mar 11, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Foes Foes
J.M. Coetzee, now out with a new novel and a collection of essays, reminds us what a master he is at turning life into narrative.
Feb 7, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Fukú Americanus Fukú Americanus
Junot Díaz's masterful new novel maps the ambiguities in the modern immigrant experience in America.
Nov 8, 2007 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz