Literary Criticism

Blackness as Being, Whiteness as Nothingness

Blackness as Being, Whiteness as Nothingness Blackness as Being, Whiteness as Nothingness

Nell Painter and Herman Melville on American racism as existentialism.

Jun 23, 2015 / Greg Grandin

Joyce Carol Oates

June 16, 1938: Joyce Carol Oates Is Born June 16, 1938: Joyce Carol Oates Is Born

"Oates believes strongly in the authority of the individual’s experience of reality."

Jun 16, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac

This Week: Moving Feminism Forward This Week: Moving Feminism Forward

We’ve come a long way, but we’ve a long way to go in progress for women’s rights.

Mar 9, 2013 / Blog / Katrina vanden Heuvel

Passing the Signal Along Passing the Signal Along

The task of a critic has to do with the nature of the knowledge we call art.

Feb 28, 2013 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

Making Strange: On Victor Shklovsky

Making Strange: On Victor Shklovsky Making Strange: On Victor Shklovsky

A Russian novelist’s fight, in life and art, to see the world afresh in all its cruelty and splendor.

Feb 5, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Ben Ehrenreich

Till the Knowing Ends: On William Gass

Till the Knowing Ends: On William Gass Till the Knowing Ends: On William Gass

In Life Sentences, William Gass shows that consciousness needs to be stressed to be strengthened.

Mar 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Joanna Scott

John Leonard

Reading John Leonard: A Tribute Reading John Leonard: A Tribute

For the critic John Leonard, “books are where we go alone to complicate ourselves.”

Feb 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / E.L. Doctorow

The Idler: On Geoff Dyer The Idler: On Geoff Dyer

Freedom to do just what he pleases defines the life and writing of Geoff Dyer.

Apr 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Scott Sherman

Back Talk: Terry Castle Back Talk: Terry Castle

A conversation with the author of The Professor about her affair with an older woman and the journals of Susan Sontag.

Jan 28, 2010 / Back Talk Conversations / Christine Smallwood

Adaptation: On Literary Darwinism Adaptation: On Literary Darwinism

If art is a product of the mind, and the mind a product of evolution, is art a product of evolution?

May 20, 2009 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

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