Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

Pynchon’s Abundance
Travis Alexander revisits Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland,” arguing that it contains a prescient analysis of today’s liberal-leftist divide.
Travis AlexanderOct 30
- Fiction
- Politics
“Television” by Lauren Rothery
Smart, sly, and irresistibly stylish, the LARB Book Club Winter 2026 pick is Lauren Rothery’s debut novel, Television.
Oct 27
Lost Horizons
Brendan Boyle writes on the voyages beyond in “Contact” (1997) and “Alambrista!” (1977), in the newest installment of Double Feature, from the LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Brendan BoyleOct 20
One Step Removed from Ash
Vanessa Holyoak explores memory and loss after the L.A. fires, in an essay from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Vanessa HolyoakOct 19
Macchiato
A. Cerisse Cohen writes about desire in your twenties, in a short story throwback from LARB Quarterly no. 45: “Submission.”
A. Cerisse CohenOct 17
- LARB Lit
- Fiction
Life Finds an Investor
Karoline Huber discusses the phenomenon of “de-extinction” in SF and popular culture.
Karoline HuberOct 15
- SF
Dogs of the Solar Steppe
Ari Braverman writes about a woman exiled to the countryside, in a short story from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Ari BravermanOct 11
- LARB Lit
- Fiction
Crisis Makes Weird
Harrison Blackman discusses the aesthetics and politics of Greek cinema’s Weird Wave.
Harrison BlackmanOct 10
- Film
- Art & Architecture
Leah Umansky’s “Ars Poetica: The Thing Is …”
Leah Umansky offers a treatise on living among nature, in a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Leah UmanskyOct 10
- LARB Lit
- Poetry
Two Poems by Rickey Laurentiis
Rickey Laurentiis dissects identity and gender in two poems from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Rickey LaurentiisOct 9
- LARB Lit
- Poetry
Nico Amador’s “Adams”
Nico Amador traces abandoned lineages, in a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Nico AmadorOct 8
- LARB Lit
- Poetry
From aracelis girmay’s “The Dog”
In a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien,” aracelis girmay encounters the self as a wild animal.
aracelis girmayOct 7
- LARB Lit
- Poetry
Timothy Donnelly’s “To the Alien”
Timothy Donnelly imagines the daunting task of encapsulating humanity’s woes, in a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Timothy DonnellyOct 6
- LARB Lit
- Poetry
Jeremy Ra’s “Janis Carter Lives in Gambia for Years to Rehabilitate Lucy the Chimp Back into the Wild”
Jeremy Ra inhabits the conflicted mind of chimpanzee caretaker Janis Carter in a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Jeremy RaOct 5
- LARB Lit
- Poetry
Unsettled Enough
Nitish Pahwa unravels the legal and familial complexities of statelessness in an essay from LARB Quarterly no. 46: “Alien.”
Nitish PahwaOct 4
Indecent Disposal: FCC and the Censoring of Late-Night
Deborah L. Jaramillo looks at the relationship between the FCC and the television industry over time.
Deborah L. JaramilloOct 3