In The Paris Review, the celebrated writer reveals the struggles of creativity.
interviews
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Mary Gaitskill on Beauty and Permanence
What is [death]? It’s a fact that human beings—no matter who they are, no matter how healthy or strong or beautiful they are—are going to age and become weak and ugly by a certain standard, and die. And I think that’s a terrifying idea for people to get their minds around. It’s a very strange […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Pre-Internet Small Town
Mary Karr, in The Paris Review, on her small-town roots.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
David Rakoff on the Downsides of Childhood
I had a beautiful childhood and a lovely childhood. I just didn’t like being a child. I didn’t like the rank injustice of not being listened to. I didn’t like the lack of autonomy. I didn’t like my chubby little hands that couldn’t manipulate the world of objects in the way that I wanted them […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Philip Levine’s Advice for ‘Making It’ as a Writer
“Many young poets have come to me and asked, How am I gonna make it?”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
George Saunders on How We Deal with Anxiety
I’m interested in the way that Americans — well, probably people in general — tend to address their anxiety with yap. I know I do. This tendency to lack the self-confidence to simply not do anything — to refrain, to be silent, not react, not shoot, just stay out of the shit — that seems […]
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Joan Rivers on Humor and Loss
GROSS: What are some of the most painful things that have happened to you that you’ve ended up making jokes about on stage? Ms. RIVERS: Oh, where do you start? My husband’s suicide. GROSS: Right. Ms. RIVERS: Some man, 60 years old, that couldn’t take the business and went and killed himself. How do you […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why Do We Get Suspicious About ‘Extreme Morality’?
“Some thought people who appeared to be extremely ethical must be somehow cheating—that they couldn’t actually be doing all those good things. Others believed they were doing those things, but they found that so weird that they thought they must have some kind of mental illness—that they must lack the ordinary component of desires or […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Problem with Journalism and the Internet, in One Quote
Jonah Peretti: I think there’s an interesting tension between what’s good for the user and what’s good for the industry. That was really created by Google. Say The New Yorker writes a really long 12,000 word piece on Scientology. That takes lots of reporting and lots of investment. That’s important work that our industry should […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * *