Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

Can Africans Write Millennial Fiction?
Masiyaleti Mbewe on the rich range (and critical neglect) of millennial fiction in Africa.
Masiyaleti MbeweSep 5, 2022
- Around the World
- Fiction
Foregone Conclusion: The Afterword as Preface
Darrell Spencer considers death through the lenses of golf and Robert Altman’s “McCabe and Mrs. Miller.”
Darrell SpencerSep 4, 2022
- Film
- Memoir & Essay
Between Love and Envy
Jody Keisner explores love and envy between sisters in and outside her family.
Jody KeisnerSep 3, 2022
- Memoir & Essay
Spies in the Forest: How Partisans Helped Win the Battle of Kyiv
John Beck on the villagers who were the Ukrainian army’s eyes during the opening weeks of the Russian invasion.
John BeckSep 2, 2022
- Around the World
- Politics
The East Village Detective: On Bill Morrison’s Historical Poetics
Seth Fein considers Bill Morrison’s latest, “The Village Detective: A Song Cycle,” in the context of the filmmaker’s body of work.
Seth FeinAug 30, 2022
- Film
- History
101 Black Women Poets in Mainly White and Mainly Black Rooms
Marit J. MacArthur and her colleagues dive deep into the particularities of spoken word performance and its reception.
Howard Rambsy II, Lee M. Miller, Marit J. MacArthur, Qin Ding, Xiaoliu WuAug 27, 2022
- Poetry
- Science & Technology
Victor Serge: The Spirit of Liberty
Jared Marcel Pollen celebrates the survival of Victor Serge.
Jared Marcel PollenAug 23, 2022
The Things We Carried to Chemo
Lisa Glatt explores first her mother’s and then her own experiences with cancer in the context of national politics and family life.
Lisa GlattAug 21, 2022
- Memoir & Essay
“Like Fences in a Flat Land”: On Recent Returns to German Expressionist Lyric
Alexander Sorenson reviews new translations of the expressionist poetry of Georg Trakl and Georg Heym.
Alexander SorensonAug 20, 2022
- Around the World
- Poetry
“Left to Folly or to Fate”: Gwendolyn Brooks’s and Elizabeth Bishop’s Ballads of Social Unrest
Brian Brodeur reveals the social dimensions and political potential of the ballad.
Brian BrodeurAug 19, 2022
- Poetry
What Makes a Millennial?
Sarah Wasserman questions the defining boundaries and problematic categorizations carried by our culture's treatment of the label "millennial."
Sarah WassermanAug 18, 2022
Self-Narrative TV in Uncertain Times
Madeline Ullrich examines self-narrative television through the lenses of "Somebody Somewhere" and "Life & Beth."
Madeline UllrichAug 17, 2022
- Film
- Television
On Baduy
Novelist Miguel Syjuco on the subversive concept of baduy in Philippine culture.
Miguel SyjucoAug 17, 2022
The First Restaurant Critic of Color at the L.A. Times
Jacquelyn Ardam profiles Patricia Escárcega, the first restaurant critic of color at the Los Angeles Times.
Jacquelyn ArdamAug 16, 2022
- Food & Drink
To Foreignize or to Domesticate: Notes After Leading a Translation Seminar
Robert Chandler addresses the contradictory pulls translators face as they work.
Robert ChandlerAug 15, 2022
“Gods of Want” by K-Ming Chang
Myth, migration, ghostliness—a remarkable collection of surrealist short stories that contemplates power, memory, and the relationships of Asian American women. Check out our Summer 2022 pick for the LARB Book Club: “Gods of Want” by K-Ming Chang.
Aug 14, 2022