Fruit Without Taste: On Marguerite Duras’s “The Easy Life”Apoorva Tadepalli reviews Marguerite Duras’s “The Easy Life.”...APOORVA TADEPALLIAROUND THE WORLDFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Fuck the Poetry Police: On the Index of Major Literary Prizes in the United StatesDan Sinykin breaks down the Post45 Data Collective set on literary awards compiled by Stephanie Young and Juliana Spahr....DAN SINYKINLITERARY CRITICISMLITERARY FICTIONPOETRY
Whatever Weapon: On Gender and Italian LiteratureJanna Brancolini discusses the dynamic relationship between restrictive Italian gender roles, Italy’s biggest literary prize, and the nation's history of women writers, who have rarely won it....JANNA BRANCOLINIAROUND THE WORLDFICTIONHISTORYLITERARY FICTIONGENDER & SEXUALITY
Fettuccine and ForgivenessErica Heller on coming to forgive her novelist father, Joseph, for their “fractious, doomed, exhausting relationship.”...ERICA HELLERMEMOIR & ESSAYLITERARY FICTION
Pushing Against the Self in Fiction: A Conversation with Akil KumarasamyMona Kareem talks with Akil Kumarasamy about her new novel, “Meet Us by the Roaring Sea.”...MONA KAREEMFICTIONSFLITERARY FICTION
All of the Monsters (In Which I Accuse James Purdy of Throwing My Four-Year-Old Child Down Two Flights of Stairs Using His Powers of Telekinesis): On Michael Snyder’s “James Purdy”Matthew Stadler recalls his friend James Purdy via Michael Snyder’s new biography of the novelist, playwright, and poet, “James Purdy: Life of a Contrarian Writer.”...MATTHEW STADLERMEMOIR & ESSAYBIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHYLITERARY FICTION
A Romanian Daedalus’ Surrealist Labyrinth: On Mircea Cărtărescu’s “Solenoid”Ben Hooyman reviews Mircea Cărtărescu’s “Solenoid.”...BEN HOOYMANAROUND THE WORLDLITERARY FICTION
Did “Less” Need More?: On Andrew Sean Greer’s “Less Is Lost”John Havard reviews Andrew Sean Greer’s new novel “Less Is Lost.”...JOHN HAVARDFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Possibly Related Characters: On Li Zi Shu’s “The Age of Goodbyes”Jenny Wu reviews Li Zi Shu’s “The Age of Goodbyes,” translated by YZ Chin....JENNY WUAROUND THE WORLDFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Beauty in Recluse: On Katherine Dunn’s “Toad”Terry Nguyen reviews Katherine Dunn’s posthumously published novel “Toad.”...TERRY NGUYENFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Opposites Blur Together: On Dane Bahr’s “The Houseboat”Jason Namey reviews Dane Bahr’s “The Houseboat,” a gothic noir about a detective investigating an outcast suspected of murder in 1960s Iowa....JASON NAMEYFICTIONNOIRLITERARY FICTION
Variations on a Theme: On Gwendoline Riley’s “First Love” and “My Phantoms”Oona Holahan reviews Gwendoline Riley’s novels “First Love” and “My Phantoms.”...OONA HOLAHANFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
A Leaky Manual on Living with Uncertainty: On Julia Armfield’s “Our Wives Under the Sea”Zander Allport reviews Julia Armfield’s “Our Wives Under the Sea.”...ZANDER ALLPORTFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Fooled You: On Donna Tartt’s Genre FictionRichard Joseph ponders Donna Tartt’s curious exclusion from the “genre turn” canon....RICHARD JOSEPHFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Dickens for the Civil Rights–Era South: On Joseph Allen Boone’s “Furnace Creek”Suzanne Keen reviews Joseph Allen Boone’s new novel “Furnace Creek.”...SUZANNE KEENFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
“Summon the Shadows of Ages Past”: Negotiating The Northman’s AntimodernismWilson Taylor analyzes the superficial glorification of the premodern in Robert Eggers’s “The Northman.”...WILSON TAYLORFILMLITERARY FICTION
“Books Want Things for Themselves”: A Conversation with Alice Elliott DarkMark Labowskie talks with Alice Elliott Dark about her new novel, “Fellowship Point.”...MARK LABOWSKIEFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
To Foreignize or to Domesticate: Notes After Leading a Translation SeminarRobert Chandler addresses the contradictory pulls translators face as they work....ROBERT CHANDLERAROUND THE WORLDLITERARY FICTIONPOETRY
The Name of the World: On Else Lasker-Schüler’s “Three Prose Works”Jared Joseph reviews the first English translation of Else Lasker-Schüler’s major prose works....JARED JOSEPHAROUND THE WORLDLITERARY FICTION
Askew from the Nation: Thinking About Home and Country with Chinua Achebe and James BaldwinAbena Ampofoa Asare on the diasporic wanderings — and singular meeting — of James Baldwin and Chinua Achebe....ABENA AMPOFOA ASAREAROUND THE WORLDBIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHYLITERARY FICTION
New York Trance — Geoff Dyer and the Life of the WriterIn Dyer's repetitions and leitmotifs, we get the sense of watching a mind traveling between planes of existence....TOBY LLOYDNONFICTIONFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Bali Diary: At the 2015 Ubud Writers and Readers FestivalA visit to the 2015 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali....MARIA BUSTILLOSLITERARY FICTION
A Strange Mind: An Interview with Orhan PamukThe novel is about modern city life, and the characters may be poor, but they are very modern. Their problem is adjusting to the individuality of the city....BRUCE ROBBINSFICTIONLITERARY FICTION
Here Be Dragons: On Literary CartographyAndrew DeGraff's "Plotted: A Literary Atlas" is a book of maps based on great works of literature....JONATHAN RUSSELL CLARKART & ARCHITECTURELITERARY FICTION
