B. Traven: Fiction’s Forgotten Radical B. Traven: Fiction’s Forgotten Radical
The enigmatic author’s anarcho-communist politics seep into his novels about wage labor, class consciousness, and the violence of capital.
Apr 14, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Clinton Williamson
How ‘Things’ In Fiction Shape the Way We Read How ‘Things’ In Fiction Shape the Way We Read
Sarah Wasserman’s recent book looks at how the objects we take for granted in stories can reveal even deeper meaning.
Apr 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Haigney
Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs
His biting satires of Russian bureaucracy examined the random cruelty and arbitrary hierarchy of an empire in crisis.
Apr 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson
Leonora Carrington’s Irreverent Dreamscapes Leonora Carrington’s Irreverent Dreamscapes
The surrealist painter’s only novel, The Hearing Trumpet, is a wily, epicurean, and hilariously scattershot exploration of nature, religion, myth, and more.
Apr 1, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Zachary Fine
Kazuo Ishiguro at the End of the End of History Kazuo Ishiguro at the End of the End of History
In his new novel Klara and the Sun, the British novelist offers us a narrative as much about our own world as about any imagined future.
Mar 24, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Katie Fitzpatrick
Danielle Evans’s Poignant Histories of the Present Danielle Evans’s Poignant Histories of the Present
Her new fiction collection The Office of Historical Corrections gives an intimate retelling of some of the debates and protests that defined the last decade.
Feb 25, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jessica Lynne
Elena Ferrante’s Class Dramas Elena Ferrante’s Class Dramas
Her latest novel, The Lying Life of Adults, mines the contradictions of class identity.
Feb 22, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson
Can the Novel Document the Present in Real Time? Can the Novel Document the Present in Real Time?
Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet is an experiment in novel writing that closely tracks and analyzes the news as it happens.
Feb 8, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rumaan Alam
Can a Novel Really Capture the Spirit of the Internet? Can a Novel Really Capture the Spirit of the Internet?
Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts and the limits of literary fiction’s obsession with life online.
Feb 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace
The Body, the State, the Border: On Cristina Rivera Garza The Body, the State, the Border: On Cristina Rivera Garza
Her fiction and essays illuminates how the language of violence is inherent to the disaster neoliberalism wrought in Mexico.
Feb 2, 2021 / Claire Mullen