Fiction

Antonio Di Benedetto and the Sound of Madness

Antonio Di Benedetto and the Sound of Madness Antonio Di Benedetto and the Sound of Madness

His bleak and surreal 1964 novel The Silentiary examines one man’s quest for quiet.

Apr 27, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Dustin Illingworth

The Zoological Nightmares of Rafael Bernal

The Zoological Nightmares of Rafael Bernal The Zoological Nightmares of Rafael Bernal

The Mexican writer’s 1947 novel His Name Was Death dramatizes humanity’s ecological arrogance through the story of a mosquito swarm with plans of world destruction.

Apr 25, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Lucas Iberico Lozada

The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington

The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington The Absurdist Meets Jane Austen in Bloomington

Budi Darma’s People from Bloomington engages in a strange realism—where life in a small-town America seems both banal and absurd. 

Apr 12, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Intan Paramaditha

Emily St. John Mandel’s Neatly Designed Worlds

Emily St. John Mandel’s Neatly Designed Worlds Emily St. John Mandel’s Neatly Designed Worlds

Her new novel, a time travel story called Sea of Tranquility, presents a universe lacking in loose ends or messiness.

Apr 11, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Sophia Nguyen

Can a Thriller Capture the Feeling of Being Watched?

Can a Thriller Capture the Feeling of Being Watched? Can a Thriller Capture the Feeling of Being Watched?

Calla Henkel’s Other People’s Clothes mines the gossip and sleaze of early 2000s culture to tell a story about celebrity obsession and spectacle.

Mar 17, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Philippa Snow

Alt-Lit’s Jeremiad Against the Novel

Alt-Lit’s Jeremiad Against the Novel Alt-Lit’s Jeremiad Against the Novel

Where Sean Thor Conroe’s Fuccboi fits in recent literary history.

Mar 16, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Cal Revely-Calder

Francesco Pacifico Confronts Fiction’s Oldest Questions

Francesco Pacifico Confronts Fiction’s Oldest Questions Francesco Pacifico Confronts Fiction’s Oldest Questions

His new novel, The Women I Love, asks if men can accurately portray and represent the experiences of women.

Mar 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Piper French

Stephen Crane’s Lifetime of Mystery

Stephen Crane’s Lifetime of Mystery Stephen Crane’s Lifetime of Mystery

His visceral fiction and journalism might be best understood as a literature of pure immediacy.

Mar 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Paul Franz

The Enigma of Roberto Bolaño

The Enigma of Roberto Bolaño The Enigma of Roberto Bolaño

David Kurnick’s new book reappraises the Chilean writer, clarifying the preconceptions and myths that haunted his earliest work.

Feb 24, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

Statue of Liberty

What Might the World Look Like in 2025? What Might the World Look Like in 2025?

A dispatch from the future.

Feb 15, 2022 / John Feffer

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