“’Words are the only victors,’ Rushdie wrote in his last novel, ‘Victory City.'”
Literature
Posted inEditor's Pick
Percival Everett Can’t Say What His Novels Mean
“The author of ‘Erasure’ is renowned for his satires of genre, identity, and America. But his great target may be language itself.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Recognizing the Stranger
“What in fiction is enjoyable and beautiful is often terrifying in real life.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Days of the Jackal
How Andrew Wylie turned serious literature into big business.
Posted inEssays & Criticism
Poets in the Machine
Why does the literary world still hold online writing at arm’s length?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Confessions of a Viral AI Writer
“Despite my success with AI-generated stories, I’m not sure they are good for writers—or writing itself.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Literary Translation Can Shift the Tides of Power
“I am just one parent. What if more parents read translated books with their children?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Misdirectives
“A public high school teacher asks why the wrong things cause a fuss in schools.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Terrifying Car Crash That Inspired a Masterpiece
“Fifty years ago, a Kansas family picked up a hitchhiker on their way to Iowa. What happened on that drive became part of literary history.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘The Ways of Fiction Are Devious Indeed’
“Finding current relevancy—and outrage—in the accusations of plagiarism that have long haunted a classic of the West: Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose.”