Lists
May 9, 2012
The Appeals and Perils of the One-Word Book Title 28
by Bill Morris
At their best, one-word titles distill content to its purest essence, which is what all titles strive to do, and then they stick in the mind. Sometimes, of course, they fall flat, and much of the time they’re just lukewarm and vague or, worse, falsely grand.
April 30, 2012
How To Introduce an Author 18
by Janet Potter
Should a beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning author have to hear the president of Northwestern’s Jewish students’ society call him Michael Sha-BONE 8 times in 2 minutes? No. Because he flew across the country to speak for 50 minutes in your overheated auditorium and you have the internet.
April 23, 2012
Tolstoy or Dostoevsky? 8 Experts on Who’s Greater 31
by Kevin Hartnett
All mediocre novelists are alike; every great novelist is great in his own way.
April 5, 2012
The Riches of White Trash 10
by Bill Morris
Are poor rural white people really neglected in American literature? Hardly. They might be routinely scorned, marginalized, misunderstood, and reduced to caricature, but they’re not neglected. In fact, the canon is larded with writers who’ve put the riches of white trash culture to wondrous use.
February 14, 2012
Man-Eaters and Murderers: Vile Women in Fiction 14
by Edan Lepucki
True villains are a hoot, everyone knows that.
February 9, 2012
My Novel is Going Nowhere: Dispatches from a Literary Classic in Progress 6
by Michael Hofmann
In these brief dispatches, we see a writer struggle with his book, his health, his debts, and his own mind. In Roth’s doubts, many writers will recognize their own.
