In September LARB featured a number of pieces that approach life writing — memoir, personal essay, intellectual and artistic biography — from a variety of directions. Below you will find penetrating reviews of biographies, interviews with innovative life writers, meditations on and appreciations of sui generis examples of the genre, and attempts to reconstruct forgotten lives. — LARB Editorial
The Monthly Digest: October 2019
“A Mix of Malcolm and Milton”: On Corey Robin’s “The Enigma of Clarence Thomas”
John W. W. Zeiser finds many keys in “The Enigma of Clarence Thomas” by Corey Robin.
Looking for Léontine: My Obsession with a Forgotten Screen Queen
Professor and programmer Maggie Hennefeld explores the world of forgotten silent film actresses and archivists’ struggles to rediscover lost film art.
Left for Dead: On the Philosophical Life and Vocation of Walter Kaufmann
Robert L. Kehoe III studies “Walter Kaufmann: Philosopher, Humanist, Heretic” by Stanley Corngold.
The Struggle to Feel: On Benjamin Moser’s “Sontag: Her Life and Work”
Robert Minto interprets “Sontag: Her Life and Work” by Benjamin Moser.
“Sometimes Women Do Like Women”: On Nancy K. Miller’s “My Brilliant Friends”
Nancy Miller’s deep exploration of female friendship, and the role of death in friendship, is a welcome and extraordinary addition to an impoverished genre.
In Your Loss of Time I Found All of Myself Included: On Naja Marie Aidt’s “When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back”
Nathan Scott McNamara reviews Naja Marie Aidt’s “When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back,” translated from the Danish by Denise Newman.
The Generative Joy of Missing: Jennifer Croft’s “Homesick”
Ellie Robins is moved by “Homesick,” a memoir by Jennifer Croft.
“Why Did You Survive?”: On Yevsey Tseytlin’s “Long Conversations in Anticipation of a Joyous Death”
Linda Kinstler listens in on “Long Conversations in Anticipation of a Joyous Death” by Yevsey Tseytlin, translated from the Russian by Alexander Rojavin.
Proletarian Roadkill
Woody Haut reviews a new biography of Nelson Algren.
The Sorrow of Soviet Poetry: On Lev Ozerov’s “Portraits Without Frames”
Tom Teicholz looks at “Portraits Without Frames” by Lev Ozerov.
It Won’t Love You Back: An Interview with Maria Tumarkin
Mireille Juchau talks to Maria Tumarkin, author of “Axiomatic.”
Larger and More Befuddling Questions: On Jane Tompkins’s “Reading Through the Night”
Dylan Brown reads through “Reading Through the Night” by literary critic Jane Tompkins.
"Just Lucky": An Interview with Gore Vidal
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