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
Percival Everett’s Abstract Art Percival Everett’s Abstract Art
His new novel, So Much Blue, is a meditation on seeing and abstraction, and it might be key for recognizing a new form of literary social critique.
Jun 26, 2017 / Paul Devlin
Mary Gaitskill Remains Open to Opposition Mary Gaitskill Remains Open to Opposition
The closest thing we get to a precept in Somebody with a Little Hammer is that we should all try to learn to think for ourselves—and, even then, things can go wrong.
Jun 19, 2017 / Larissa Pham
Hwang Jungeun’s Noisy, Crowded Space Hwang Jungeun’s Noisy, Crowded Space
It’s rare for a novel to be so dense in social meaning, and yet so lightly composed.
Apr 14, 2017 / E. Tammy Kim
Caught Between Modernity and Tradition Caught Between Modernity and Tradition
With sympathy and ruthlessness, U.R. Ananthamurthy’s novel Samskara gives shape to the mutinies that raged within mid-century India.
Mar 20, 2017 / Ratik Asokan
The Model of Perfection in Morgan Parker’s Poems The Model of Perfection in Morgan Parker’s Poems
The poet allows the struggles and the messiness of life—with a particular focus on black womanhood—to breathe.
Mar 17, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Christopher Soto
Sarah Manguso’s Existential Aphorisms Sarah Manguso’s Existential Aphorisms
In 300 Arguments, the author’s rejection of the conventions of storytelling helps reinforce the sense of her own smallness.
Mar 16, 2017 / Michele Moses
Sick for Home, Nauseated by Home Sick for Home, Nauseated by Home
The lens of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Homesick for Another World is, almost without exception, fitted close-up on conversations, petty rumination, and squalid interiors.
Feb 14, 2017 / Hannah Gold