Literary Criticism

"Writing only leads to more writing." — Colette

Stayed | Freedom | Hallelujah
Habeas Viscus is a book that offers us a vital framework for imagining a world where race — where human life — might be otherwise than it is.
Ashon T. CrawleyMay 10, 2015
- Literary Criticism
- Philosophy & Religion
The Mighty Mezz, Marijuana, and the Beat Generation
Mezz Mezzrow fostered a cannabis counterculture that got the Beat Generation writing.
Loren GlassMay 7, 2015
- Literary Criticism
Not Loving, Working!
"What is it about my profession, reading and thinking about books, that makes the categories of love and work so vulnerable to confusion?"
Christina LuptonMay 1, 2015
- Cultural Studies
- Literary Criticism
The Function of Criticism at the Present Time
Lauren Berlant is a critic’s critic, a feminist’s feminist, and a thinker’s friend.
Virginia JacksonApr 12, 2015
- Literary Criticism
“The Little Mermaid” and Other Tales of Becoming
Busting the myths of great literary heroines with playwright Samantha Ellis.
Miranda KennedyApr 7, 2015
- Literary Criticism
Form’s Function
“But Forms is less a defense than a redesign of formalism. Levine doesn’t call for a return to old-school aesthetic appreciation and apolitical close reading as a way to curb historicism run amok. Instead, as many critics have done before her, she looks beyond her discipline for a way around the whole formalism/historicism debate.”
David AlworthMar 20, 2015
- Literary Criticism
Not Only in the Dark
Rachel Pastan on Marjorie Sandor's anthology of eerie writing.
Rachel PastanMar 13, 2015
- Literary Criticism
Drunk Dialer’s Ballad: Drinking in 20th Century American Short Fiction
A drunk dialer’s ballad for the 20th century.
Caroll Sun YangMar 11, 2015
- Literary Criticism
Reading as Kissing, Sex with Ideas: “Lesbian” Barebacking?
“In fact, if there were time, we could rehearse how the sign “lesbian” has functioned historically as a bold estranging force, breeding estrangements with every use: Who is a lesbian? What do they do? Can it be sex?”
Kathryn Bond StocktonMar 8, 2015
- Gender & Sexuality
- Literary Criticism
An African American Life?
“However magesterially this biography conventionalizes Brown’s life, it does so at some potential cost to Brown’s anomalousness.”
Jordan Alexander SteinFeb 12, 2015
- Biography & Autobiography
- Literary Criticism
What Is an @uthor?
It’s clear that our media today capture and contain authorial presence with unprecedented levels of abundance. But the total recall and total information awareness that characterize these interactions are further complicated by the focalizing powers of hashtags, filters, and notifications."
Matthew KirschenbaumFeb 6, 2015
- Literary Criticism
- Science & Technology
Against Common Sense
Rei Terada’s "Looking Away" has given us a grammar for the feeling of wanting to escape from something unfixable.
Michael W. CluneFeb 1, 2015