In the Theater of Isak Dinesen In the Theater of Isak Dinesen
A reconsideration of the fictive truths behind a storyteller's many masks.
Aug 12, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Joanna Scott
Iron Hans Iron Hans
Novelist Hans Fallada resented the constraints of the Nazi era but did not desist in his craft.
Jun 24, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Lytal
Seed Projects: The Fiction of Alejandro Zambra Seed Projects: The Fiction of Alejandro Zambra
Does Alejandro Zambra's Bonsai mark the end of an era in Chilean literature?
Jun 17, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Marcela Valdes
Chop Shops Chop Shops
Over a decade ago, in his novel The Ax, Donald E. Westlake captured the ruthlessness and anomie of economic Darwinism.
May 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor
Toad Skin? Fernando del Paso’s News From the Empire Toad Skin? Fernando del Paso’s News From the Empire
News From the Empire hacks out a sinuous, branching path that connects fantasy with fact and allegory with analysis.
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Lorna Scott Fox
Puttin’ on the Glitz: José Manuel Prieto’s Rex Puttin’ on the Glitz: José Manuel Prieto’s Rex
Set in the glossiest of sanctuaries, Rex is a complicated and dazzling indictment of contemporary fiction.
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Natasha Wimmer
The Kundera Conundrum: Kundera, Respekt and Contempt The Kundera Conundrum: Kundera, Respekt and Contempt
How did Milan Kundera's antipathy toward the media become as curdled as the Czechs' allergy to his success?
May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jana Prikryl
Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis’s Narnia
Laura Miller's study of C.S. Lewis falls short of providing a coherent theory of Narnia's magic.
May 6, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Jordan Davis
A Vigorous, Quiet Revolt: Things Fall Apart At Fifty A Vigorous, Quiet Revolt: Things Fall Apart At Fifty
Published fifty years ago, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart mounted a literary rebellion against the everyday amalgamations and condescension that treat Africa as an undiffere...
May 4, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Howard W. French
When the Whip Comes Down: On Mary Gaitskill When the Whip Comes Down: On Mary Gaitskill
With Don't Cry, a disabling self-consciousness has crept into Mary Gaitskill's fiction.
Apr 22, 2009 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz