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
A Recognizable Dystopia A Recognizable Dystopia
Leni Zumas’s Red Clocks suggests a different method for fashioning a dystopian novel.
Mar 23, 2018 / Mike Mariani
The World of ‘Crime and Punishment’ The World of ‘Crime and Punishment’
A new translation captures the painful backdrop of Dostoyevsky’s classic: the poverty, crime, and violence that shaped much of everyday life in 19th-century St. Petersburg.
Mar 22, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson
Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Language Is a ‘War Zone’: A Conversation With Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
The Kenyan author discusses colonialism and abandoning English to write in his native Kikuyu.
Mar 9, 2018 / Q&A / Rohit Inani
Zadie Smith’s Dream City Zadie Smith’s Dream City
In a moment when ideological surety is the order of the day, Feel Free asks us to remember that another mode of thought is possible.
Mar 6, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Ismail Muhammad