Fiction

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

Daddy’s Issues: Karl Ove Knausgaard’s “Spring”
If you still haven’t tried Knausgaard or have been unsatisfied with his helplessly casual "New York Times" travel essays, try "Spring."
Bob BlaisdellMay 5, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
That Evil Yellow Light: On Jean Stafford’s “The Mountain Lion”
Eric Gudas makes the case for “The Mountain Lion,” a classic novel of childhood by Jean Stafford.
Eric GudasMay 5, 2018
- Fiction
Afterimages of a Dark Past in Ariel Dorfman’s “Darwin’s Ghosts”
Ariel Dorfman returns to fiction with a fact-based story that puts the reader on guard immediately.
Mark Axelrod-SokolovMay 4, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
The Unavoidable Percival Everett
On race and "So Much Blue."
Matthew MullinsMay 3, 2018
- Fiction
1,001 Days in Chicago: Tales of Violence in the City
Rachel Shteir looks at tales of violence in Chicago.
Rachel ShteirMay 2, 2018
Eve Babitz’s Expensive Regrets
In “Black Swans,” Eve Babitz probes the causes and consequences of why the ’60s and ’70s were so debauched.
Lauren SarazenMay 2, 2018
- Fiction
Why Kathy Acker Now?
Change the political genre, fight for something new, Acker’s work urges us, because conventional politics in the post-factual age is failing to evolve.
Ralph ClareMay 2, 2018
- Fiction
- Gender & Sexuality
The Things with Real Teeth and Power: Two Novellas from Sam Pink
Taylor Larsen finds the work of Sam Pink unique and true.
Taylor LarsenMay 1, 2018
- Fiction
Sentenced at Conception: The Imprisoned and Unloved in Rachel Kushner’s “The Mars Room”
Jennifer Croft finds Rachel Kushner’s “The Mars Room” a brilliant work of unique rigor.
Jennifer CroftMay 1, 2018
- Fiction
Twenty-First-Century Word Paintings: Nafissa Thompson-Spires’s “Heads of the Colored People”
Thompson-Spires’s satire, oriented around questions of blackness, joins a particular tradition of African-American sardonic absurdism.
Gabrielle BellotApr 30, 2018
- Fiction
MacArthur Park but in New York: On Andrew Durbin’s “MacArthur Park”
"MacArthur Park," Andrew Durbin’s debut fiction, exploits the novel’s capacity to connect and bridge without necessarily establishing complete contact.
Evan KleekampApr 28, 2018
- Fiction
Small-Town Tragedy, Big-Time Resentments
With subtlety, Susan Henderson attempts to understand, deconstruct, and empathize with small-town America.
Gina FrangelloApr 22, 2018
- Fiction