Matthew Specktor is the author of the novels American Dream Machine and That Summertime Sound, as well as a nonfiction book of film criticism. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, the Paris Review, Tin House, and many other periodicals and anthologies. He has recently been at work adapting American Dream Machine for FX Networks. Photo by Lisa Jane Persky.
CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLES
The Mythmaker Gazes at Himself: A Conversation with David Leo Rice
Matthew Specktor and author David Leo Rice discuss his book series, “A Room in Dodge City.”...
A Preoccupation with Consciousness: Matthew Weiner’s “Heather, the Totality”
Matthew Specktor reviews Matthew Weiner's debut novel, "Heather, the Totality."...
John Freeman Gill on His New York Novel, “The Gargoyle Hunters”
Matthew Specktor interviews John Freeman Gill about his debut novel "The Gargoyle Hunters," New York novels, and the built environment....
Pure Fruit
Katherine Taylor discusses her writing process, the autobiographical nature of writing, and the inspiration in California's Central Valley....
A Dissident Writer in Modern America
Has Renata Adler's genuine radicalism resulted in her being silenced?...
Halloween Fiction Roundtable
LOOK BEYOND THE CANDY AND COSTUMES — Halloween is a storyteller’s holiday. We fear the witch, the goblin, the ghost, because ...
The Sliding Door: Matthew Specktor Interviews Paris Review Editor Lorin Stein
MATTHEW SPECKTOR: The Paris Review may be the greatest living archive in American letters. And there’s always the temptation to ...
Impersonating Ourselves
It's no wonder that we are often confused by impostors, delighted by sock puppets, and relieved — most of us, anyway — that we remain singular....
Mentors: James Baldwin
He missed the first class. In fact, he missed the first three....
The Cows: A Rumination
The Cows seems particularly playful, gentle. Her consciousness here bristles, stirs, even strains, but it rarely furrows or breaks....
Positions of Privilege
Joan Didion is, as we know, a cool customer....
Mr. Sublimation
By now we are tired of thinking about Freedom....
