Fiction

James Purdy, 1957.

James Purdy’s Chronicles of Outsiderdom James Purdy’s Chronicles of Outsiderdom

His fiction, which ranged from slapstick humor to sheer terror, fixated on the lives of those society discarded.

Sep 19, 2023 / Books & the Arts / John Lingan

Copyright © 2023 Chantal Montellier

Chantal Montellier’s Prescient Dystopias Chantal Montellier’s Prescient Dystopias

A new volume collects the pioneering French comic artist's work.

Sep 18, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Laila Lalami

A crime scene at Colorado College, 2004.

What Can True Crime Offer Us? What Can True Crime Offer Us?

Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You tries to understand popular culture's fixation on two lurid things: podcasts and murders.

Sep 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bekah Waalkes

Nora Ephron’s Divorce Plot

Nora Ephron’s Divorce Plot Nora Ephron’s Divorce Plot

Her only novel, "Heartburn," looked beyond the love story to uncover the limits of bourgeoisie life and marriage itself.

Aug 28, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Dilara O’Neil

The “Voyager” stroboscopic headsets, an early VR device, 1991.

The First Great Novel About Virtual Reality? The First Great Novel About Virtual Reality?

Colin Winnette’s disorienting Users examines the limits of morality and imagination as they exist online and in video games.

Aug 16, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

Tom Hanks backstage at Late Night With Seth Meyers, 2022.

Why Did Tom Hanks Write a Novel? Why Did Tom Hanks Write a Novel?

And can we understand his vision of Hollywood from this strange artifact?

Aug 10, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Adam Nayman

Brandon Taylor’s Sweeping Novel of Class and Campuses

Brandon Taylor’s Sweeping Novel of Class and Campuses Brandon Taylor’s Sweeping Novel of Class and Campuses

The Late Americans works the way that university towns do. People move in, move out, move on—not everyone gets to meet, but everyone temporarily occupies the same spaces. 

Aug 7, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Chihaya

Black Refuge and the Novel of Ideas: A Conversation With Maya Binyam

Black Refuge and the Novel of Ideas: A Conversation With Maya Binyam Black Refuge and the Novel of Ideas: A Conversation With Maya Binyam

“Fiction is so incredibly rife with ethical questions.”

Aug 3, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Rosemarie Ho

What Happened to Peter Handke?

What Happened to Peter Handke? What Happened to Peter Handke?

How an artist obsessed with interiority and language become a literary pariah. 

Jul 26, 2023 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace

Sculpture of the Greek poet Sappho, 1880.

In the Shadow of Sappho In the Shadow of Sappho

Selby Wynn Schwartz’s After Sappho is a unique work of fiction that resembles a group biography on the travails of 20th-century queer feminist artists. 

Jul 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Lily Houston Smith

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