Fiction

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

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  The Fashionable Forms of Despair: A Recovered Interview with Saul Bellow

  Fred Hardwick presents his long-unpublished interview with Saul Bellow, conducted at Brandeis University in 1977, the year after Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize.

  Fred HardwickOct 15, 2021

  • Fiction

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  Conjuring in Wartime: Colm Tóibín Evokes the Art of Thomas Mann

  A novel about the life of Thomas Mann is a huge canvas, finely observed.

  Anne GoldmanOct 10, 2021

  • Fiction

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  Sholom Aleichem Against “Edelkeyt”: A Conversation with Curt Leviant

  Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt asks Curt Leviant about translating “Moshkeleh the Thief,” a long-lost novel by Sholom Aleichem.

  Avital Chizhik-GoldschmidtOct 8, 2021

  • Fiction

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  Melodrama and the Abyss: On María Amparo Escandón’s “L.A. Weather”

  Yxta Maya Murray finds a call to action with the melodrama of “L.A. Weather” by María Amparo Escandón.

  Yxta Maya MurrayOct 8, 2021

  • Fiction

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  A Desperate Sadness and an Unapologetic Levity: On Jonathan Coe’s “Mr Wilder and Me”

  The author’s latest novel is a love letter to one of his major aesthetic influences.

  Alex HarveyOct 7, 2021

  • Fiction

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  A Tender Irish Elegy: Sally Rooney’s “Beautiful World, Where Are You”

  Rooney’s new novel is redolent with the Irish verities of Catholicism and James Joyce.

  Brenna M. CaseyOct 7, 2021

  • Fiction

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  Finding Meaning in Dire Times: Sally Rooney’s “Beautiful World, Where Are You”

  Rooney’s third novel oscillates between the perspectives of two close female friends in their late 20s.

  Esmé HogeveenOct 7, 2021

  • Fiction

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  Feeling Like Shit: On Christine Smallwood’s “The Life of the Mind”

  Smallwood’s novel seems a perfect illustration of Freudian theory, as filtered through Judith Butler.

  Alena GraedonOct 3, 2021

  • Fiction

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  Haunted by Houses: On the California Victorian in Fiction

  Why have so few novels explored the darker side of the California Victorian mansion?

  Joy LanzendorferOct 2, 2021

  • Fiction

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  To Love a Language: On Jhumpa Lahiri’s Transformations

  Jacqui Cornetta examines Jhumpa Lahiri’s journey to Italian and back again.

  Jacqui CornettaSep 29, 2021

  • Fiction

  • Memoir & Essay

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  Revenge of the Minor Character: On Dag Solstad’s “Novel 11, Book 18”

  The Norwegian novelist explores the existential predicament of a middle-aged, middle-class bureaucrat.

  Dan ShurleySep 28, 2021

  • Fiction

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  “Just Over There, Out of Sight”: Jo Lloyd’s “Something Wonderful”

  A Welsh writer’s debut story collection brims with strivers, toilers, and dreamers who never quite grasp the brass ring.

  Cory OldweilerSep 28, 2021

  • Fiction