Exile on Any Street
Irina Reyn and Aleksandar Hemon in conversation,February 2010
Are American readers insular, as the secretary of the Swedish Academy famously quipped? If so, why has immigrant fiction taken such a pivotal role in American letters? Novelist Irina Reyn hashes it out with lauded Bosnian author Aleksandar Hemon.
FEATURES
Writers, Plain and Simple
by Claire MessudWomen make up 80% of the fiction reading audience in this country. So why, guest fiction editor Claire Messud asks, are women authors so frequently left off the best-of lists, and left out of prestigious book prizes?
INTERVIEWS
On the Emancipation of Women
Katherine Dykstra interviews Sheryl WuDunnJust as the 1800s were ripe for the abolition of slavery, this century will bring forces to bear on freeing women from violence, slavery, and oppression, argues the co-author of Half the Sky.
FICTION
Quality Street
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, guest-edited by Claire MessudSochienne called her a fat bourgeois, a dilettante dancing while Nigeria was failing, as though she could somehow solve the country’s problems by depriving herself of a manicure.
ART
Paintings
by Christine GrayThese paintings focus on the American myth of the seeker, traveling alone through untouched landscapes in search of a revelatory experience of the divine.
FROM THE BLOG
Rec Room: Elizabeth Onusko: Herb & Dorothy
9 February 2010 - Part history and part love story, this documentary is perfect for Valentine’s Day.
Ann Marlowe: Aesthetic Warriors
9 February 2010 - Our troops’ uniforms tell us something about the broader culture in the U.S. and how we think about our military.
Rec Room: David Xia: The Smartest Guys in the Room
8 February 2010 - When you’re hungry for tales of hubris, greed, and corporate drama…
Robert Reich: Who’s Killing Financial Reform?
8 February 2010 - Congress isn’t doing a thing about Wall Street because it’s in the pocket of Wall Street.
Rec Room: Jake Whitney: “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”
5 February 2010 - Penned in 1964 with the ‘50s political climate in mind, Hofstadter’s influential essay has an uncanny relevance today.