Walking with Fran
Anandi Mishra discusses the recent docuseries “Pretend It’s a City” through the lens of the flâneur and her own experiences walking through rural India.
Around the World
"For a long time now I haven't been I."
— Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Love and the Literary Leviathan: On Pola Oloixarac’s “Mona”
Yxta Maya Murray dives into the recent English-language translation of Pola Oloixarac’s “Mona.”
Ai Xiaoming and the Quarantine Counter-Diary
Thomas Chen on Ai Xiaoming’s Wuhan lockdown “counter-diary.”
The Dialectics of March 11: A Decade After the Japan Tsunami
Japan’s remote northeast struggles, a decade after the tsunami hit.
Pandemic Death Narratives of Mexico and the United States
The sickened groans of Mexico and the United States are sublimations of remembering, forgetting, and constantly inventing national narratives.
Not Not Realism: On André Gide’s “Marshlands”
Ben Libman traverses “Marshlands” by André Gide, recently translated by Damion Searls and released by NYRB Classics.
The Altar of Oblivion: On Maria Stepanova’s “In Memory of Memory”
Linda Kinstler ponders “In Memory of Memory,” a book-length essay by the Russian poet Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale.
Glorious Cultural Promiscuity
David Bentley Hart on Goethe.
Democracy Is No Utopia: On Mariana Enríquez’s “The Dangers of Smoking in Bed”
Federico Perelmuter considers “The Dangers of Smoking in Bed,” the new short story collection by Mariana Enríquez and translated by Megan McDowell.
“Locks of Sorrows”: On Mykola Bazhan’s Early Poetry
Uilleam Blacker is captivated by “‘Quiet Spiders of the Hidden Soul’: Mykola (Nik) Bazhan’s Early Experimental Poetry.”
Burning Books: Akram Aylisli on Literature and Cultural Memory
Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli discusses literature and life under de facto house arrest.
Blueprint for Masterworks: On Roberto Bolaño’s “Cowboy Graves”
Richard M. Cho digs up “Cowboy Graves,” the recently published collection of novellas by Roberto Bolaño and translated by Natasha Wimmer.
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