Literary Criticism

"Writing only leads to more writing." — Colette

An Art of Variety: A Response to Richard Joseph
Antonio J. Ferraro responds to Richard Joseph on the state of contemporary literary criticism, online and elsewhere.
Antonio J. FerraroMay 31, 2022
- Literary Criticism
The Literatures of Irish America: On Joe Cleary’s World-Systems Scholarship
Matthew Eatough assesses two new books by Joe Cleary, “Modernism, Empire, World Literature” and “The Irish Expatriate Novel in Late Capitalist Globalization.”
Matthew EatoughMay 30, 2022
- Literary Criticism
You Must Change Your Writing Style: Ward Farnsworth’s Guidebooks to English Virtuosity and Ancient Philosophy
Our culture is preoccupied with content to the almost total exclusion of form, and that’s bad.
Colin MarshallMay 22, 2022
- Literary Criticism
The Movement of the Mind: On Jonathan F. S. Post’s “Elizabeth Bishop: A Very Short Introduction”
Andrew Neilson gets under the skin of Jonathan F. S. Post’s “Elizabeth Bishop: A Very Short Introduction.”
Andrew NeilsonMay 2, 2022
- Literary Criticism
The Madeleine’s Metapragmatics: On Michael Lucey’s “What Proust Heard: Novels and the Ethnography of Talk”
When your dinner-party host offers you a madeleine, how do you respond, and why?
Colton ValentineApr 14, 2022
- Literary Criticism
Breeding at the End of the World: On Aaron Matz’s “The Novel and the Problem of New Life”
Lindsay Wilhelm thinks about what it means to procreate in a time of impending doom in a review of Aaron Matz’s “The Novel and the Problem of New Life.”
Lindsay WilhelmApr 7, 2022
- Literary Criticism
Erasure as Empowerment: A Conversation with Kristina Marie Darling
The prolific poet-critic discusses her latest book of essays, “Silent Refusal.”
Molly GaudryApr 1, 2022
- Literary Criticism
Super-Close Reading: On Marjorie Perloff’s “Infrathin: An Experiment in Micropoetics”
This superb critical study explores “what makes poetry with a capital P so captivating and indispensable.”
Tal GoldfajnMar 29, 2022
- Literary Criticism
Near-Coincidences: Digression and the Literature of the Age of the Internet
Gianluca Didino remembers W. G. Sebald through two recent books.
Gianluca DidinoMar 20, 2022
- Literary Criticism
“Am I Like Ulysses?”: On José Vergara’s “All Future Plunges to the Past: James Joyce in Russian Literature”
Nataliya Karageorgos reviews José Vergara's "All Future Plunges to the Past," a new book about James Joyce's influence on Russian literature.
Nataliya KarageorgosFeb 28, 2022
- Literary Criticism
Refuge and Connection: On “Tolstoy Together: 85 Days of War and Peace with Yiyun Li”
Christine Jacobson finds a “convivial companion,” as well as catharsis, in “Tolstoy Together: 85 Days of War and Peace with Yiyun Li,” edited by Brigid Hughes.
Christine JacobsonFeb 25, 2022
- Literary Criticism
Reading for Trauma
Why are there so many amateur therapists in today's fiction?
Christina FogarasiFeb 16, 2022
- Literary Criticism