Literary Criticism

To Walden: On Lawrence Buell’s “Henry David Thoreau” and Robert D. Richardson’s “Three Roads Back”
Todd Shy reviews Lawrence Buell’s “Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently” and Robert D. Richardson’s “Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives.”...
Todd ShyNov 7
- Biography
- Nonfiction
Coral Tongues: On Chang Yuchen’s “Coral Dictionary Vol. 1”
Maya Hayda reviews Chang Yuchen’s “Coral Dictionary Vol. 1: 2019–2022.”...
Maya HaydaNov 4
Reading in the Conglomerate Era: Or, Do Small Presses Even Exist?
Hilary Plum situates Dan Sinykin’s “Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature” among the ecosystem of small presses in the literary world....
Hilary PlumOct 24
For Promising Young Women: A Smidge of Midge
Eliana Rozinov examines the figure of Midge as a mythical phenomenon, a pregnant doll, and a variation of the “promising young woman” trope....
Eliana RozinovOct 12
- Film
A Particularly Intimate Mourning: On Susie Boyt’s “Loved and Missed”
Eric Gudas reviews Susie Boyt’s “Loved and Missed.”...
Eric GudasOct 11
- Fiction
Science Fiction Belongs to All of Us: On Joy Sanchez-Taylor’s “Diverse Futures”
Julia Lindsay reviews Joy Sanchez-Taylor’s “Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Authors of Color.”...
Julia LindsayOct 8
- Nonfiction
- Speculative Fiction
Where Life Is Precious, Life Is Precious. And Surely That’s Not Here: On Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s “Chain-Gang All-Stars”
Salem James Martinez reviews Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s “Chain-Gang All-Stars.”...
Salem James MartinezSep 29
The Limits of Agency: On Olga Ravn’s “My Work”
Ariel Courage reviews Olga Ravn’s “My Work,” translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell....
Ariel CourageSep 26
- Fiction
The IIC School Versus the JLF School of Indian English
Sumana Roy on how the vernacularization of the English language has affected Indian political and cultural life....
Sumana RoySep 22
- Memoir
Against the MFA Contrarians
Joel Cuthbertson defends the creative writing MFA as an educational, not a vocational, enterprise....
Joel CuthbertsonSep 2
- Education
- Memoir
Salvaging a Soviet Jewish Literary Culture: On Marat Grinberg’s “The Soviet Jewish Bookshelf”
Yelena Furman reviews Marat Grinberg’s “The Soviet Jewish Bookshelf: Jewish Culture and Identity Between the Lines.”...
Yelena FurmanAug 29
- History
- Religion
All the Television We’ll Lose: On Fantagraphics’ “Ernie in Kovacsland”
Harry Waksberg reviews a new book from Fantagraphics about television pioneer Ernie Kovacs, “Ernie in Kovacsland.”...
Harry WaksbergAug 17
- Television
The World’s Wife: On Clare Carlisle’s “The Marriage Question”
Victoria Baena reviews Clare Carlisle’s “The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life.”...
Victoria BaenaAug 15
- Biography
After the Leap: Marriage and Philosophy in George Eliot and Søren Kierkegaard
Clare Carlisle analyzes the theme of marriage in the life and work of two great 19th-century thinkers and writers, George Eliot and Søren Kierkegaard....
Clare CarlisleAug 14
- Biography
- Philosophy
Life, Disturbed: On Nicole Flattery’s “Nothing Special”
Grace Linden reviews Nicole Flattery’s “Nothing Special.”...
Grace LindenJul 16
- Art
- Fiction
Technology, Attention, and the Extremely Long Paragraph
Thalia Williamson analyzes how novels that limit or refuse paragraph breaks challenge our distracted modes of reading....
Thalia WilliamsonJul 5
There’s No Such Thing as a Guilty Pleasure
Katharine Coldiron ponders why we love the bad art we love....
Katharine ColdironJun 24
- Memoir
A Century of Writing Back: How Salma Khadra Jayyusi Brought Arabic Literature to the Anglophone World
Dima Ayoub describes the long and multivarious career of Palestinian author and critic Salma Khadra Jayyusi....
Dima AyoubJun 14
- Fiction
- Poetry
A Considerable Aura: On Adam Shatz’s “Writers and Missionaries”
Ann Manov reviews Adam Shatz’s “Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination.”...
Ann ManovJun 6
- Nonfiction
Are We Still Postmodern?: On Stuart Jeffries’s “Everything, All the Time, Everywhere”
Ed Simon reviews Stuart Jeffries’s “Everything, All the Time, Everywhere: How We Became Postmodern.”...
Ed SimonMay 25
An Image of Itself: On David Grundy’s “Present Continuous” 
Tom Allen reviews David Grundy’s “Present Continuous.”...
Tom AllenMay 23
The Open Presentness of Past Moments: On Gary Saul Morson’s “Wonder Confronts Certainty”
Bob Blaisdell reviews Gary Saul Morson’s “Wonder Confronts Certainty: Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter.”...
Bob BlaisdellMay 17
The Work of the Audiobook
Alexander Manshel, Laura B. McGrath, and J. D. Porter discuss the economics and aesthetics of audiobooks....
Alexander Manshel, Laura B. McGrath, J. D. PorterMay 16
On Excavating the Novel and “Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory”
Jasmine Liu visits Princeton University Library’s exhibition of Toni Morrison’s archive....
Jasmine LiuMay 6