Fiction

The Uncanny Brilliance of Helen Oyeyemi

The Uncanny Brilliance of Helen Oyeyemi The Uncanny Brilliance of Helen Oyeyemi

In her new novel Parasol Against the Axe, Oyeyemi helps us imagine a new kind of literary ficiton.

Aug 1, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Chihaya

Venita Blackburn’s Stages of Grief

Venita Blackburn’s Stages of Grief Venita Blackburn’s Stages of Grief

In Dead in Long Beach, California, the novelist looks at how integral lying is to any story we tell about death.

Jul 25, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Christopher Soto

Statue of Clarice Lispector at Leme Beach in Rio de Janeiro, 2016.

Clarice Lispector’s Cosmology Clarice Lispector’s Cosmology

To understand the philosophical dimensions of her fiction you must read her 1961 novel The Apple in the Dark.

Jul 24, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Shaj Mathew

Guests walk along the beach near the Botel pool on Fire Island in Long Island, New York, 1976.

The Cruel Genius of Robert Plunket’s Gay Satires The Cruel Genius of Robert Plunket’s Gay Satires

His 1992 novel Love Junkie might be one of the tragicomic classics of the AIDS era.

Jul 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wolf

The first family to move into the Levittown development in New York, 1947.

The Planetary Vision of Soviet Russia’s Great Modernist Novel The Planetary Vision of Soviet Russia’s Great Modernist Novel

Andrey Platonov’s masterpiece Chevengur imagined a politics of solidarity that placed at its center the health of the planet.

Jul 16, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Maria Chehonadskih

The Man Hồ Chí Minh Once Was

The Man Hồ Chí Minh Once Was The Man Hồ Chí Minh Once Was

Joseph Andras's novel on the Vietnamese revolutionary's salad days in Paris imagines how a young radical became an icon.

Jun 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Terry Nguyễn

A photograph by Gordon Parks. of a Washington, DC, street corner.

Diane Oliver’s Fiction From Both Sides of the Color Line Diane Oliver’s Fiction From Both Sides of the Color Line

Neighbors and Other Stories, a posthumously released collection, looks at all the uncertainty and promise of coming of age during and after the civil rights era.

Jun 17, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kelton Ellis

A splitscreen image of a headshot of author Essie Chambers alongside the cover of her debut novel, Swift River.

A New Novel Explores How to Develop Black Identity in the Absence of Black Culture A New Novel Explores How to Develop Black Identity in the Absence of Black Culture

In Essie Chambers’s debut novel, Swift River, protagonist Diamond Newberry finds ways to fill the gaps in her family tree.

Jun 6, 2024 / Kali Holloway

Edward Hopper's “October in Cape Cod,” 1946.

A Coming of Age Novel That Puzzles Through Gender A Coming of Age Novel That Puzzles Through Gender

In Griffin Hansbury’s Some Strange Music Draws Me In, a man’s recollections of his transition opens up into a nuanced examination of gender identity’s many contradictions.

May 27, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Grace Byron

Aran Islands woman

The Imperial Gaze Turns on Britain’s Isles The Imperial Gaze Turns on Britain’s Isles

In Elizabeth O’Connor’s Whale Fall, an encounter between English documentarians and a remote Welsh island community provokes questions of sexual and national identity.

May 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Emmet Fraizer

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