Fiction

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

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  A Millennial’s Purgatory: On Joy Williams’s “Harrow”

  The author’s first novel in 20 years is a bleak exploration of a barren eco-apocalypse.

  Sam Jaffe GoldsteinNov 22, 2021

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  The Long Half-Life of Proletarian Prose: On Michael Gold and Maxwell Bodenheim

  Woody Haut works through “Michael Gold: The People’s Writer” by Patrick Chura and “Slow Vision” by Maxwell Bodenheim.

  Woody HautNov 19, 2021

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  Thrilling and Harrowing: On Claire Vaye Watkins’s “I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness”

  A surreal autofiction masterpiece explores motherhood, fidelity, and the American West.

  Rachel Jo WalkerNov 18, 2021

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  An Urgent New Book for the Time Being

  David Palumbo-Liu argues for the radical message of “The Book of Form and Emptiness” by Ruth Ozeki.

  David Palumbo-LiuNov 17, 2021

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  Fragile Threads: On Mina Seçkin’s “The Four Humors”

  Malena Steelberg traces the course of “The Four Humors,” the debut novel of Mina Seçkin.

  Malena SteelbergNov 16, 2021

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  Writing the Kaleidoscope: A Conversation with Jackson Bliss

  Bryan Hurt interviews Jackson Bliss on his debut story collection, “Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments.”

  Bryan HurtNov 14, 2021

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  Love in Times of Terror: A Conversation with Kalani Pickhart

  Kalani Pickhart discusses her ambitious debut novel, “I Will Die in a Foreign Land.”

  Sonya BilocerkowyczNov 13, 2021

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  The Minotaur in the Labyrinth, or the Theatricality of Power

  What the great Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt can teach us about the January 6 insurrection.

  Hans J. RindisbacherNov 12, 2021

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  Panic in the City: On Duncan Birmingham’s “The Cult in My Garage”

  Satirical short stories find sentiment and solace in L.A.’s superficial surfaces.

  Gabriel HartNov 11, 2021

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  The Terrible Powers of Self-Deception: On Domenico Starnone’s “Trust”

  The Italian author’s 2019 novel is now available in an English translation by Jhumpa Lahiri.

  Lee ThomasNov 9, 2021

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  The Art of Queer Liberation: On the Enduring Power of Manuel Puig’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman”

  Puig’s was the first Latin American novel to link political liberation with the dignity of queer love.

  Carolina De RobertisNov 9, 2021

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  The Striver Is Bereft: On Joshua Ferris’s “A Calling for Charlie Barnes”

  Joshua Ferris’s fourth novel is a comic epic about cancer and the American Dream.

  Nathan DunneNov 5, 2021

  • Fiction