Fiction

A postcard depicting Vienna in the future, 1905.

Adam Ehrlich Sachs’s Exhibitions of Absurdity Adam Ehrlich Sachs’s Exhibitions of Absurdity

In Gretel and the Great War, an antic epistolary novel set in early 20th-century Austria, the writer tries to make sense of a society gone mad.

Jan 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Walker Rutter-Bowman

Barry Malzberg at ReaderCon in 2010.

Novelist on a Deadline: Barry Malzberg, 1939–2024 Novelist on a Deadline: Barry Malzberg, 1939–2024

A speed demon at the typewriter, Malzberg wrote quickly and brilliantly in a variety of genres including mystery, thrillers, and erotica, but his core work was in science fiction....

Dec 23, 2024 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

Ethan Herisse as Elwood and Brandon Wilson as Turner in “Nickel Boys.”

The Illusory Beauty of “Nickel Boys” The Illusory Beauty of “Nickel Boys”

An avant-garde adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel careens between questions of style and substance.

Dec 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

The pure products of America: Roy Cohn and Donald Trump at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC, on March 20, 1983.

Donald Trump Is the Authentic American Berserk Donald Trump Is the Authentic American Berserk

Far from being an alien interloper, the incoming president draws from homegrown authoritarianism.

Dec 13, 2024 / Jeet Heer

How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse

How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse

A talk with Dionne Brand about her recent book, Salvage, which looks at how the classic texts of Anglo-American fiction helped abet the crimes of capitalism, colonialism, and more...

Dec 5, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques

The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq

The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq The Discontents of Michel Houellebecq

What happened to the French novelist?

Nov 25, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Cole Stangler

An African American family seated in a convertible, 1972.

The Perils of a Post-Racial Utopia The Perils of a Post-Racial Utopia

In Nicola Yoon’s One of Our Kind, a dystopian novel of a Black upper-class suburb’s secrets, she examines the dangers of choosing exceptionalism over equality.

Nov 21, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

Possibility, Force, and BDSM: A Conversation With Chris Kraus and Anna Poletti

Possibility, Force, and BDSM: A Conversation With Chris Kraus and Anna Poletti Possibility, Force, and BDSM: A Conversation With Chris Kraus and Anna Poletti

The two writers discuss the challenges of writing about sex, loneliness, and the new ways novels can tackle BDSM.

Nov 13, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Chris Kraus

Lore Segal’s Stubborn Optimism

Lore Segal’s Stubborn Optimism Lore Segal’s Stubborn Optimism

In her life and work, she moved through the world with a disarming blend of youthful curiosity and daring intelligence.

Nov 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Michele Moses

The Sheer Gusto of Jane DeLynn

The Sheer Gusto of Jane DeLynn The Sheer Gusto of Jane DeLynn

1982’s In Thrall was a magnificent piece of queer fiction, at once comic and courageous.

Nov 11, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Colm Tóibín

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