Tag: literature

Meditations on Jay G, Jay-Z, the art of plagiarism, and America’s love affair with money, guns, and decadence

Georges Simenon might be the best French-language novelist you’ve never heard of.

The writer, art historian, and street photographer on the body vs. the intellect, the mythical pre-history of humanity, and how very serious a Twitter post can be.

The impossible and necessary vision of Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani

Melissa Febos on her dominatrix memoir, teaching sexuality in literature, and what it takes to make a great sex scene.

The provocateur on Obama’s second term and the role of bad behavior in fiction.

McEwan’s new novel raises questions of artistic independence.

The broad strokes of Tom Wolfe’s Back to Blood and the subtle specificity of Joan Didion’s Miami.

The prolific translator talks with Guernica’s poetry editor about her work ethic, contemporary Morocco, and what connects poetry with journalism.

Banned Books Week: This year, one Michigan school district tried to keep Morrison’s haunting narrative out of the classroom. A writer explores how Baby Suggs and Beloved teach us what we don’t learn in school.

Newly minted Oxford American editor Roger D. Hodge discusses the role of an editor, finding a form, and the newsstand’s allure.

Despite what Kakutani says, Smith’s new novel is not "Mrs. Dalloway Lite."

The iconoclastic leftist and novelist discusses the rage that fueled him, and how he felt about his coming end alongside the ruin of America.

Character study vs. flimsy romance in Fifty Shades of Grey, Trishna,and Tess of the d’Urbervilles.

Christine Lee Zilka interviews Don Lee, author of the new novel The Collective, about cover-art Orientalism, character heritage, and the improbability of becoming a writer.

A conversation recorded on the road reveals the late author’s take on the role of the writer-as-activist. Read and listen.

Anthony Swofford on bad habits, good writing, and coming back from the brink

Novelists Mirza Waheed, Roma Tearne, and Daisy Hasan on how novels help us understand the strife-filled regions of Asia.

The Iranian writer on the tension between artists and intellectuals, the power of mysticism, and the long-lasting effects of the 1979 revolution.

On the occasion of his second novel, Libyan author Hisham Matar discusses the effect of totalitarianism on personal lives, what makes the novel a great art form, and the Arab Spring.

Iran’s most prominent poet, a two-time Nobel nominee, on the greatest epic in history, the nightmare of censorship, and why her country will eventually achieve democracy.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author on his new memoir, recovering his Latin roots in America, his relationship with Donald Barthelme, and how he found his voice.

Finally, he learned her name: Nan.

Why were there only 8 women on the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels of the Twentieth Century? Why is only 3% of the literature Americans read in translation?

The iconic writer and activist on the similarities between Tibet and Palestine, womanism versus feminism, and Carl Jung.

With a newly-elected leftist government in El Salvador, exiled Salvadoran novelist Horacio Castellanos Moya is optimistic about the future of a country that once responded to his novels with death threats.

The acclaimed author on science fiction, collaborating with Ben Stiller, and how Ayn Rand almost made him an architect.

“Yes, I think we have to be faithful to the context,” says the translator of the Quijote. “But it’s very important to differentiate between fidelity and literalness.”