Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s Radical Honesty Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s Radical Honesty
In her books, the cartoonist constantly reworks the raw materials of her life.
Jul 19, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Jillian Steinhauer
The Death of Philip Roth’s ‘Lox and Bagels’ Judaism The Death of Philip Roth’s ‘Lox and Bagels’ Judaism
The novelist’s life tracked the rise and fall of a golden age of secular American Jewry.
Jun 20, 2018 / Column / Eric Alterman
‘Call Me a Refugee, Not an Immigrant’: Viet Thanh Nguyen ‘Call Me a Refugee, Not an Immigrant’: Viet Thanh Nguyen
The novelist on refugee literature and the concept of the “genius.”
Jun 11, 2018 / Jon Wiener
What Does It Take to Write a Novel About Prison? What Does It Take to Write a Novel About Prison?
An interview with Rachel Kushner about her new novel, The Mars Room.
May 23, 2018 / Jon Wiener
A New Embassy in Jerusalem, an Old Struggle in Gaza A New Embassy in Jerusalem, an Old Struggle in Gaza
Amy Wilentz on the American embassy in Israel, Rachel Kushner on The Mars Room, and Patricia J. Williams on the legacy of lynching.
May 17, 2018 / Podcast / Start Making Sense and Jon Wiener
The Turmoil of Fearful Anticipation The Turmoil of Fearful Anticipation
Many of the stories in Dino Buzzati’s Catastrophe are more concerned with paranoia and fear than with dramatic repercussions.
May 9, 2018 / Bradley Babendir
Alfred Döblin’s Hard-boiled Berlin Alfred Döblin’s Hard-boiled Berlin
In Berlin Alexanderplatz, we are plunged into a cauldron of alienation, violence, and social breakdown that would deliver all of Germany into the hands of the Nazis.
Apr 26, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Adam Kirsch
Harry Mathews’s Framed Stories Harry Mathews’s Framed Stories
Multiple meanings always simmer under the surface of his writing, but in The Solitary Twin, they’re more hidden.
Apr 16, 2018 / Alina Cohen
Clarice Lispector’s Lifelong Project Clarice Lispector’s Lifelong Project
At the core of Clarice Lispector’s works is the tension between language’s profound potential and its inability to reach the vital realm of the unspeakable.
Mar 30, 2018 / Nathan Goldman