Fiction

"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." — Mark Twain

The Craft Is All the Same: A Conversation with Victor LaValle
Ayize Jama-Everett interviews Victor LaValle about horror and diversity.
Ayize Jama-EverettNov 22, 2018
- Fiction
- SF
A Proust of One’s Own: Anthony Powell’s 20th Century
Sylvia Brownrigg revisits the work of Anthony Powell, a Proust of midcentury Britain.
Sylvia BrownriggNov 22, 2018
- Biography & Autobiography
- Fiction
Bruno Schulz: The Shadow of the Word
Philip Ó Ceallaigh goes in search of Bruno Schulz 76 years after his murder.
Philip Ó CeallaighNov 19, 2018
Cynical Satire and Civic Optimism Across the American Heartland
Danielle Charette read-trips through Gary Shteyngart’s “Lake Success” and James and Deborah Fallows’s “Our Towns.”
Danielle CharetteNov 19, 2018
- Fiction
- Memoir & Essay
The Limits of Language in a Surrealist Age: Sabrina Orah Mark’s “Wild Milk”
Michael Valinsky drinks in Sabrina Orah Mark’s debut story collection “Wild Milk.”
Michael ValinskyNov 16, 2018
- Fiction
Remember to Forget: Patrick Modiano’s “Sleep of Memory”
Patrick Modiano's "Sleep of Memory" manages to attach a feeling not just of unease but of genuine terror to the past.
Thomas J. MillayNov 13, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
Fraught with Peril: On Lucia Berlin’s “Evening in Paradise” and “Welcome Home”
Ryan Smernoff greets the publication of “Evening in Paradise: More Stories” and “Welcome Home” by Lucia Berlin.
Ryan SmernoffNov 11, 2018
- Fiction
- Memoir & Essay
Exerting Control Over Chaos: An Interview With Karen E. Bender
Lily Meyer interviews Karen E. Bender about the uncontained chaos of the modern world, the refractions of Jewish identity, and our era’s lack of empathy.
Lily MeyerNov 8, 2018
- Fiction
The Fallibility of Memory: An Interview with Frances de Pontes Peebles
A Brazilian-American novelist on the pleasures of historical research, the beauty of the samba, and honoring Carmen Miranda.
Alex EspinozaNov 1, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
A Trokosi Mirror of the US-Mexican Border: On Bernice L. McFadden’s “Praise Song for the Butterflies”
Bernice L. McFadden's "Praise Song for the Butterflies" is short and spare, but its portrait of a child abandoned will haunt readers.
Tina McElroy AnsaOct 30, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
The Turk and the Diplomat: An Introduction to Ivo Andrić’s “Omer Pasha Latas”
LARB presents William T. Vollmann’s introduction to Ivo Andrić’s “Omer Pasha Latas: Marshal to the Sultan,” published by NYRB Classics this month.
William T. VollmannOct 30, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
Hungry Hearts: The Digestive Tract Trilogy of Hamsun’s “Hunger,” Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist,” and Sartre’s “Nausea”
Hamsun’s "Hunger," Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist,” and Sartre’s "Nausea" are timeless works from a past that must be reckoned with. But what do they say today?
Bruce BaumanOct 29, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction