Fiction

The Disappearing Acts of Haruki Murakami

The Disappearing Acts of Haruki Murakami The Disappearing Acts of Haruki Murakami

In his new book, the novelist examines what it takes to become a great writer.

May 1, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Rumaan Alam

Hazel Jane Plante

Hazel Jane Plante’s Novel of Art, Sex, and Rock and Roll Hazel Jane Plante’s Novel of Art, Sex, and Rock and Roll

Any Other City, a fictionalized memoir of a trans musician, interrogates the conventional narrative possibilities offered to trans writers.

Apr 27, 2023 / Books & the Arts / McKenzie Wark

Emma Cline’s Novel of Pool Parties and Class Conflict

Emma Cline’s Novel of Pool Parties and Class Conflict Emma Cline’s Novel of Pool Parties and Class Conflict

Full of suspense and subterfuge, The Guest turns a story about a summer on Long Island into a thriller about what it takes to survive.

Apr 17, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson

The Palo Alto System

The Palo Alto System The Palo Alto System

Malcolm Harris’s new history of his hometown dispenses with the sentimental lore and examines how it has long been the seedbed for exploitation, chaos, and ecological degradation.

Apr 17, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Lethem

The Mind-Bending Fiction of Mircea Cărtărescu

The Mind-Bending Fiction of Mircea Cărtărescu The Mind-Bending Fiction of Mircea Cărtărescu

In his postmodern epic Solenoid, the Romanian novelist offers us an extraordinary and baroque elaboration of a subjectivity less than ordinary.

Apr 3, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Will Self

A Portrait of Leonard Cohen as a Young Artist

A Portrait of Leonard Cohen as a Young Artist A Portrait of Leonard Cohen as a Young Artist

A posthumous collection of early fiction, A Ballet of Lepers, chronicles how, in fits and starts, the singer came to understand the art of storytelling.

Mar 30, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sam Sodomsky

Los Angeles's Koreatown, 1992

The Puzzle of Ryan Lee Wong’s Activist Autofiction The Puzzle of Ryan Lee Wong’s Activist Autofiction

In his debut, Which Side Are You On, he examines fractures in the Asian American community through the eyes of a recently radicalized college student.

Mar 28, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Esther Kim

The Defiance of Cormac McCarthy’s Late Style

The Defiance of Cormac McCarthy’s Late Style The Defiance of Cormac McCarthy’s Late Style

In Stella Maris and The Passenger, McCarthy invites us to consider hopelessness not just to give us hope but to compel us to make use of it.

Mar 20, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Nicolás Medina Mora

Beautiful, Lonely, and Degraded: Gavin Lambert’s LA

Beautiful, Lonely, and Degraded: Gavin Lambert’s LA Beautiful, Lonely, and Degraded: Gavin Lambert’s LA

In his 1979 novel The Goodby People, he finds a picturesque city defined by its sense of disconnection and immense sadness.

Mar 16, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wolf

James Ensor's “L'Intrigue,” 1890

Down and Out in Paris With Rainer Maria Rilke Down and Out in Paris With Rainer Maria Rilke

In The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, the German poet’s only novel, a young artist contends with the contradictions of urban experience and the dream of pastoral life 

Mar 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Ratik Asokan

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