Fiction

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

At a Certain Age and Searching for Meaning: Anne Tyler’s “Clock Dance”
Anne Tyler’s “Clock Dance” explores a woman’s desperate desire to remain useful, even indispensable, as she ages.
Sheila McClearAug 17, 2018
- Fiction
Stories as Prayer: A Conversation Between Joshua Cohen and Harold Bloom
The author Joshua Cohen visits Harold Bloom.
Joshua CohenAug 16, 2018
- Fiction
- Literary Criticism
The People in the Trees
What might convince us that forest defense and self-defense are the same?
Lynne FeeleyAug 16, 2018
Revolt and Revulsion in Margarita García Robayo’s “Fish Soup”
Margarita García Robayo’s prose is concise and startling, her voice versatile and capable of packing a serious punch.
Ellen JonesAug 14, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
To Endure the Void: On Rachel Cusk’s “Outline” Trilogy
Josie Mitchell surveys the “autofictional” project of Rachel Cusk, which reaches its end with “Kudos.”
Josie MitchellAug 13, 2018
- Fiction
Black Magic Realism: John Rechy’s First Novel
A witches’ brew of magic, legend, and tortured faith.
Marilyn MacronAug 12, 2018
- Fiction
- Gender & Sexuality
Beyond Physical Coexistence: Aminatta Forna’s “Happiness”
Aminatta Forna's "Happiness" shows us why we must embrace coexistence and how this works in practice.
Mariatu SantiagoAug 12, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
“The Terror of History”: On Saul Bellow and Mircea Eliade
Philip Ó Ceallaigh unravels the complicated relationship, in life and fiction, between Saul Bellow and Mircea Eliade.
Philip Ó CeallaighAug 11, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
Let Us Rejoice While We Are Young
Maria Rybakova reviews Mircea Eliade's early novel "Gaudeamus," recently translated by Christopher Bartholomew and released by Istros Books.
Maria RybakovaAug 11, 2018
Revisions of Resistance in Beatriz Bracher’s “I Didn’t Talk”
Bracher’s slim, dense novel lingers in the eddies of personal memory and historical reckoning.
Victoria BaenaAug 7, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
Working Girl
Tausif Noor reviews Ottessa Moshfegh’s new novel of monotony, addiction, and loss, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation.”
Tausif NoorAug 5, 2018
- Fiction
The Shifting Horizon of Masculinity in Jamel Brinkley’s “A Lucky Man”
Brinkley offers visions of manhood and masculinity with a humane imagination for what characters miss, what they mean to say, what they might have done.
Evan McGarveyAug 5, 2018
- Fiction