Fiction

The Novel Solutions of Utopian Fiction

The Novel Solutions of Utopian Fiction The Novel Solutions of Utopian Fiction

Climate catastrophe has transformed a minor literary genre into an important tool of human thought.

Jul 16, 2021 / Feature / Kim Stanley Robinson

Gattaca

Which Is the More Prescient Dystopia? ‘Gattaca’ or ‘Parable of the Sower’ Which Is the More Prescient Dystopia? ‘Gattaca’ or ‘Parable of the Sower’

Is it the 1997 film starring Ethan Hawke or is it Octavia E. Butler’s 1993 novel?

Jul 16, 2021 / The Debate / David M. Perry and Niela Orr

Gay Liberation Front

Can a Novel Capture the Tensions of Recent Queer History? Can a Novel Capture the Tensions of Recent Queer History?

An assimilationist and a liberationist play cat-and-mouse in Zak Salih’s debut novel Let’s Get Back to the Party.

Jul 15, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jake Nevins

Brandon Taylor’s Potlucks and Parties

Brandon Taylor’s Potlucks and Parties Brandon Taylor’s Potlucks and Parties

In his new collection of short stories, the Booker-Prize nominated novelist explores the desires and discontents of people living in small university towns. 

Jul 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson

Viet Thanh Nguyen

‘We Have to Make Our Nation Confront What It Doesn’t Want to Remember’ ‘We Have to Make Our Nation Confront What It Doesn’t Want to Remember’

A conversation with Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Jun 30, 2021 / Q&A / Katrina vanden Heuvel

Diane Johnson’s Homecoming

Diane Johnson’s Homecoming Diane Johnson’s Homecoming

In her new novel, the novelist returns to the United States to offer a self-conscious story of American fragmentation.

Jun 28, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Becca Rothfeld

Austrian author Thomas Bernhard. Tonhof. Maria Saal. Carinthia. Photograph. Christmas 1957/58 (Photo by Helmut Baar

The Epic Misery of Thomas Bernhard The Epic Misery of Thomas Bernhard

His little-known novel The Cheap-Eaters, recently translated by Douglas Robertson, puts forward a basic thesis: Life is a sequence of crushings.

Jun 7, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Missouri Williams

The History of Publishing Is a History of Racial Inequality

The History of Publishing Is a History of Racial Inequality The History of Publishing Is a History of Racial Inequality

A conversation with Richard Jean So about combining data and literary analysis to understand how the publishing industry came to be dominated by white writers. 

May 27, 2021 / Q&A / Rosemarie Ho

Richard Wright

Did ‘Cancel Culture’ Drive Richard Wright Underground? Did ‘Cancel Culture’ Drive Richard Wright Underground?

On “Memories of My Grandmother” and The Man Who Lived Underground.

May 20, 2021 / Joseph G. Ramsey

A Portrait of Cis-Trans Solidarity

A Portrait of Cis-Trans Solidarity A Portrait of Cis-Trans Solidarity

Torrey Peters’s novel Detransition, Baby reimagines what we call the family.

May 20, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Lewis

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