Fiction

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

• The Pure, Messy Math of Us

  In upping the ante on the darker sides of characters, Franzen has paradoxically lifted up a more reflective and penetrating mirror to his readers.

  Andrew WinerSep 17, 2015

  • Fiction

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  That Was Now; This Is Then

  David Gates interviews Tom Piazza.

  David GatesSep 15, 2015

  • Fiction

• An Immigrant Story, the Tango, and Gender Fluidity

  Carolina de Robertis's third novel of historical fiction, "The Gods of Tango," is a bold and mesmerizing meditation on the immigrant experience.

  Sara CamposSep 15, 2015

  • Fiction

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  My Story, Mystery: A Letter to Hild of Whitby

  A letter to one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages: Hilda of Whitby.

  Nicola GriffithSep 10, 2015

  • Fiction

  • History

• Austin’s Psychic Heart

  On David Heymann's recent collection of short stories, "My Beautiful City Austin."

  John ClineSep 8, 2015

  • Fiction

• California, Coming Home: On “Valley Fever” and “Life #6”

  "Life #6" and "Valley Fever," both by writers from California, have recently tapped into the long American tradition of writing about the West Coast.

  Heather Scott PartingtonSep 7, 2015

  • Fiction

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  Me, Myself, and Hitler

  Karl Ove Knausgaard cautiously observed a year after the Utøya massacre that Breivik and Hitler both shared characteristics of the true fanatic.

  Morten Høi JensenSep 6, 2015

  • Fiction

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  The Most Raw Version of Myself

  "I asked what it would be like to be the most raw version of myself, in a world that is actually pushing in on me."

  Claire LuchetteSep 5, 2015

  • Fiction

• “Addio” to Naples’s Little Women

  Elena Ferrante has written a Greek tragedy with Lila as its heroine, but "The Story of the Lost Child" restores the sisterhood destroyed in the previous novel.

  Lisa MullenneauxSep 2, 2015

  • Fiction

• Unkillable Mockingbird

  Go Set A Watchman's usefulness lies in its push toward self-examination and reflexivity.

  Andy CrankSep 2, 2015

  • Fiction

• An Automobile Club in Egypt

  Once the story careens into British-occupied Egypt, the reader of Al Aswany’s third novel begins to understand that this book isn’t at all about automobiles, or even really about Egypt.

  Ashley RindsbergSep 2, 2015

  • Fiction

• Biology, Destiny, Purity

  Urmila Seshagiri reviews Jonathan Franzen's "Purity."

  Urmila SeshagiriSep 1, 2015

  • Fiction