Category Archives: Literature

What Edith Wharton Knew: Bieber, Ambition and the A-List

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Tom Gualtieri

Tom Gualtieri wonders if social-climbing has changed 100 years after the publication of Edith Wharton’s THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Popular Culture | Tagged Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, Justin Bieber, The Age of Innocence, The Custom of the Country, The House of Mirth, The Mount, Undine Spragg | 3 Comments

Capes of Wrath

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Samuel Sattin

The stuff of comic books is essentially a raw, undiluted breed of native magical realism, American in origin and as ingrained in our culture as jazz, baseball, or the WWE. Samuel Sattin discusses comics, masculinity, and his debut novel, League of Somebodies. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged Alan Moore, Batman, Dark Coast Press, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, Jewish, League of Somebodies, Man of Steel, Masculinity, Samuel Sattin, Superhero Lore, superman, The Watchmen | Leave a comment

(Title, If Any)

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Owen King

Owen King breaks down the complicated process of naming a novel — and then having to name it again. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged Anhedonia, Binnie Kirshenbaum, book titles, Catch-22, David Yoo, Hannah Tinti, Kalisha Buckhanon, Little Dorrit, Nick Flynn, Panasonic, Peter Abrahams, Reenactments, Sex Parties in Omaha, The Bouncing Lover, The Good Wife, the great gatsby, titles, upstate | 2 Comments

The Biography Of The Richard Benson Who I Am Not But Lots Of People I Know Think I Am

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Richard Benson

Haunted by a doppelganger, another Richard Benson, this Richard Benson insists he is not the humorist and certainly not the author of books like F in Exams. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged doppelganger, F in Exams, humor, Richard Benson, The Farm, The Valley, Wicket Wit | 2 Comments

All The Women In My Family Read Terry McMillan

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Judy Juanita

What to do about black literature, Judy Juanita ponders, on the release of her own novel and finding that it doesn’t fit, not with the books her friends and family are reading. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged Amiri Baraka, chick lit, ghetto lit, Henry Louis Gates jr, Iceberg Slim, Langston Hughes, Sister Souljah, Terry McMillan, Wole Soyinka | Leave a comment

Looking at the Numbers Trouble: The VIDA Count and Me

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Zoe Zolbrod

Twenty years before VIDA started collecting statistics that revealed how many more men than women were featured in premier literary publications, Zoe Zolbrod noticed the same kind of disparity. She tried to talk herself out of paying attention, until VIDA’s numbers helped her remember why she should. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Politics | Tagged Alice Munro, AWP, Beyonce, E.J. Graff, feminism, gender bias, Girls, Granta, Jeannette Winterson, Katha Pollitt, Lorrie Moore, Marixsm, Martha Bayne, Mary Gaitskill, Maxine, Sheryl Sandberg, The Collagist, The Nation, the New Yorker, The Paris Review, Tin House, VIDA | 1 Comment

Is the Personal Essay Hipper Than Thou?

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Janet Steen

The nonfiction trend goes on. Separating the bad from the good from the great is the tricky part. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged Adam Kirch, Ali Smith, blogging, David Sedaris, Davy Rothbart, Donald Barthelme, E.M. Cioran, Facebook, Geoff Dyer, Gore Vidal, H.L. Mencken, Jo Ann Beard, Joan Didion, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Marylinne Robinson, Michelle Orange, Montaigne, Sloane Crosley, The New Republic, TMI, Tom Bissell | 7 Comments