Anatomy Lessons: The Ecstatic Agony of Philip Roth
Roth’s self-appointed task was to journey deep into his own psyche—to root around, observe, provoke, record.
Sadness Is a White Bird – Moriel Rothman-Zecher
In some ways every work of Israeli literature is about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but some of them are trying to solve it.
Why Straight Culture Needs the Rich Gay
The Rich Gay is a complex matrix of stereotypes, associations, half-facts and soundbites; any attempt to discuss the economic realities of LGBT people gets sucked into his orbit.
The Geography of Rebels Trilogy – Maria Gabriela Llansol
Life for Llansol, at least going by these books, seems to have been something more flowing and organic than even an agua viva of the “I” as Lispector defines it.
After disaster, there is only disaster. It is a familiar and unrecognizable present. And whether we recognize it or not, whether we read it or write it or not, we are living the climate crisis.
Only now do I realize that I venerated Sula during a period in which I became numb.
Little Reunions – Eileen Chang
Chang has been referred to as China’s Joan Didion.
Some Questions About First Novels
The history of the novel is also the history of people coming into an understanding of themselves, of the ways in which we use art not only to reflect but also to change ourselves.
Tawada’s is a fiction of resistance — to capitalism, imperialism, normative emotional expectations — and that can, sometimes, look a lot like cruelty.
“Bearing witness I think is the best of what poetry can do sometimes.”