Essays
March 11, 2010
On Epigraphs 9
by Andrew Tutt
Should epigraphs be thought of as part of the text, a sort of pre-modern, post-modern device, like tossing a newspaper clipping into the body narrative? Or are they actually a direct invitation by the author, perhaps saying, “Look here, for from this inspiration came this tale?”
March 10, 2010
Through the Looking Glass: Notes on Disappearance 7
by Emily St. John Mandel
People don’t disappear nearly as often in real life as they do in fiction. We’re fascinated, as a culture, by the idea of vanishing.
March 9, 2010
What About Genre, What About Horror? 42
by Peter Straub
Just for beginners, let’s admit that literary fiction is a genre, too, shall we? Expectations guide its readers, that of respect for consensus reality and the poignancy of seemingly ordinary lives, of sensitive character-drawing and vivid scene-painting, of the reversals and conflicts characteristic of the several sub-genres of literary fiction.
March 4, 2010
Dispatch from the Borders-Land 12
by Craig Fehrman
Late on a late December Friday, I decided to try something different: I headed to a mall-bound Borders and asked 37 customers about their relationship to books.
March 2, 2010
That Woman Who Writes 7
by Victoria Patterson
I became known as “that woman who writes”—the patrons and employees showing me new tattoos, telling me about their breakups and fights and hangovers, and complaining about the “dickhead” who owned the coffeehouse.
February 26, 2010
Joy of Cooking: A Novel Experience 6
by Sarah McCoy
The truth is, I read cookbooks like novels. Cover to cover, page by page, the dedication, the acknowledgments, the indexes: I devour everything.
