Articles by Kevin Hartnett
January 23, 2012
Where Parents Get Their Power: Evidence from The Brothers Karamazov 7
It occurred to me that the Grand Inquisitor’s interpretation of the Temptation of Christ effectively describes the power I hold over my two sons.
December 18, 2011
A Year in Reading: Kevin Hartnett 0
Following on months of transition and many sleepless newborn nights, Murakami’s rare, strange story gave me back my human shape.
November 14, 2011
Reading 1Q84: The Case for Fiction in a Busy Life 27
I stopped questioning the purpose of fiction and instead began to see reading 1Q84 as one of the few necessary things I did all day. The reasons for the change of heart had to do with wonder, with love, and with the way literature provides for the best parts of who we are.
July 12, 2011
The Story in the Storm: An Accomplished Author on How to Write Journalistic Nonfiction 3
If the narrative isn’t unfolding the way you want it, you can’t just change the details to make it better, the way you would when writing fiction. You have to represent the truth.
May 19, 2011
Goodnight Stars, Goodnight Air: Reconnecting with Children’s Books as a Parent 10
The market for children’s books is probably more resistant to cultural churn than just about any other slice of the consumer economy; it’s a closed circuit that reproduces itself one generation after another.
May 9, 2011
He Was Water: Kenyon Grads Remember David Foster Wallace’s Commencement Speech 19
Did Wallace’s speech resonate on the hot Ohio morning when he delivered it to the assembled student, or did it get lost amid the hurrah of a graduation weekend?
