Harry Mathews’s Framed Stories Harry Mathews’s Framed Stories
Multiple meanings always simmer under the surface of his writing, but in The Solitary Twin, they’re more hidden.
Apr 16, 2018 / Alina Cohen
Clarice Lispector’s Lifelong Project Clarice Lispector’s Lifelong Project
At the core of Clarice Lispector’s works is the tension between language’s profound potential and its inability to reach the vital realm of the unspeakable.
Mar 30, 2018 / Nathan Goldman
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
Natural-Born Bards Natural-Born Bards
A new volume collects African-American folk tales that foreshadow contemporary debates about cultural ownership and appropriation.
Feb 23, 2018 / Aaron Robertson
The Extraordinary Stories of Claribel Alegría The Extraordinary Stories of Claribel Alegría
The spirit of their romance lies in the fact that they are true.
Feb 5, 2018 / Chuck Wachtel
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
Between the News and a Prayer Between the News and a Prayer
Danez Smith’s poetry bends language to hope for the possibility of a better world.
Nov 15, 2017 / David B. Hobbs
What Was It Like to Be Ernest Hemingway? What Was It Like to Be Ernest Hemingway?
The world of the Hemingways rattled with frequent gunfire.
Oct 26, 2017 / Books & the Arts / John Banville
Carmen Maria Machado’s Earnest Vision Carmen Maria Machado’s Earnest Vision
Her new fiction collection reminds us that a new, more inclusive world is possible.
Oct 6, 2017 / Larissa Pham
The Poetics of Jazz The Poetics of Jazz
A new book presents an alternative aesthetic history of jazz—and is also a challenge to all music critics.
Jul 20, 2017 / David B. Hobbs