Fiction

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud The Magic of Reading Bernard Malamud

His work, unlike that of Bellow or Roth, focused on the lives of often impoverished Jews in Brooklyn and the Bronx and bestowed on them a literary magic.

Feb 20, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Vivian Gornick

A model home in Sydney, 1968.

Helen Garner’s Alienating Domesticity  Helen Garner’s Alienating Domesticity 

In her novel The Children’s Bach, the Australian writer conjures a relentless portrait of the comforts and restrictions of family life.

Feb 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Isabella Trimboli

Pier Paolo Pasolini at a demonstration in Rome, 1970.

In the Streets of Rome With Pier Paolo Pasolini In the Streets of Rome With Pier Paolo Pasolini

His bracing debut novel, Boys Alive, documents the hard and loose lives of vagabonds in the Italian capital’s underbelly.

Feb 7, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jack Hanson

Juan Rulfo, 1985.

Juan Rulfo’s Revolution in Mexican Fiction Juan Rulfo’s Revolution in Mexican Fiction

In his 1955 masterpiece Pedro Páramo, he gave the bloody history of his country—between the rich and poor, landed and landless—mythic dimension.

Feb 1, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Ratik Asokan

Isabella Hammad’s Novel of Art and Exile in Palestine

Isabella Hammad’s Novel of Art and Exile in Palestine Isabella Hammad’s Novel of Art and Exile in Palestine

Enter the Ghost looks at a group of Palestinians who try to put on a production of Hamlet in the occupied West Bank. 

Jan 25, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Raja Shehadeh

“Night,” 1897.

Susan Taubes’s Uncanny Chronicles of Domestic Hell Susan Taubes’s Uncanny Chronicles of Domestic Hell

Her previously unreleased fiction—a novella and short stories—in Lament for Julia peek into the banal and nightmarish travails of married life.

Jan 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kathy Chow

Downtown Jakarta, 2006.

Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Portrait of Gay Indonesia Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Portrait of Gay Indonesia

In, Happy Stories, Mostly, a collection of short stories, the complexities of queer life in the Southeast Asian country come into focus.

Dec 28, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bryony Lau

James Stewart, as George Bailey, points at Lionel Barrymore in a scene from “It's a Wonderful Life.”

Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway? Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway?

How everybody’s favorite Christmas movie about the perils of monopoly capitalism became a victim of monopoly capitalism.

Dec 25, 2023 / Ray Nowosielski and David Cassidy

“Harlem WPA Street Dance,” by Elizabeth Olds, ca.1935–43.

Reading “Mumbo Jumbo” in the Post-Covid Age Reading “Mumbo Jumbo”" "in the Post-Covid Age

Ishmael Reed's novel depicts an American government dedicated to public health as long as its efforts keep hierarchy and the status quo in place.

Dec 20, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Melvin Backman

A New York City apartment building.

A Modern-Day Fable for the Tenant Class A Modern-Day Fable for the Tenant Class

Hilary Leichter’s fiction examines contemporary crises like work and inequality through the lens of magical realism. Her latest novel, Terrace Story, is a parable about the family...

Nov 8, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Grace Byron

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