A Recognizable Dystopia A Recognizable Dystopia
Leni Zumas’s Red Clocks suggests a different method for fashioning a dystopian novel.
Mar 23, 2018 / Mike Mariani
The World of ‘Crime and Punishment’ The World of ‘Crime and Punishment’
A new translation captures the painful backdrop of Dostoyevsky’s classic: the poverty, crime, and violence that shaped much of everyday life in 19th-century St. Petersburg.
Mar 22, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson
Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
The Kenyan author discusses colonialism and abandoning English to write in his native Kikuyu.
Mar 9, 2018 / Editorial / Rohit Inani
Zadie Smith’s Dream City Zadie Smith’s Dream City
In a moment when ideological surety is the order of the day, Feel Free asks us to remember that another mode of thought is possible.
Mar 6, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Ismail Muhammad
A Bell With a Distant Ring A Bell With a Distant Ring
There is much to learn from Yasunari Kawabata’s final novel, even as—especially as—it gives rise to more questions than answers.
Jan 29, 2018 / Larissa Pham
VIDEO: Ursula K. Le Guin on Listening to the Unheard Voices VIDEO: Ursula K. Le Guin on Listening to the Unheard Voices
The late author on climate change, the definition of progress, and how “the future in science fiction is just a metaphor for now.”
Jan 26, 2018 / Video / The Nation
Paul Kingsnorth’s England Paul Kingsnorth’s England
In two new novels and a recent collection of essays, the English environmentalist and activist captures a country coming apart.
Jan 11, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Christopher de Bellaigue
Mary McCarthy’s Unsparing Honesty Mary McCarthy’s Unsparing Honesty
For McCarthy, accuracy was more than just a literary aesthetic; it was a moral and political position.
Dec 28, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Maggie Doherty
Subverting the Western: A Conversation With Hernan Diaz Subverting the Western: A Conversation With Hernan Diaz
The author of In the Distance discusses foreignness, his theory of genre, and what it means to do research for a novel.
Nov 20, 2017 / Q&A / Aaron Bady
Jennifer Egan’s Shadow Worlds Jennifer Egan’s Shadow Worlds
Manhattan Beach maps the networks of power working just below New York’s surface.
Nov 16, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Katherine Hill