Recent Articles

March 9, 2010

What About Genre, What About Horror? 41

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 9, 2010

Send in the Drowned: Margriet de Moor’s The Storm 1

by Matthew Jakubowski

The Storm offers engaging historical details about the ocean’s power over Dutch life. There are demure sex scenes and macabre, watery deaths. Its bleakness – joy seems banal in this giddily dark book – is often thrilling. But the omniscient narration is choppy and unsteady.

March 8, 2010

The Rooster is Nigh 0

by C. Max Magee

At The Morning News, Rooster hosts Kevin Guilfoile and John Warner lay out “The Pre-Game Primer” for the Tournament of Books. The action kicks off tomorrow.

March 8, 2010

The Best Picture Wins Best Picture 20

by James Kaelan

My hope, in the end, is that the incessant hype around Avatar didn’t simply annoy voters until they voted against it, out of nothing more than spite.

March 5, 2010

The Millions Needs Your Votes! 1

by C. Max Magee

Voting in the 3 Quarks Daily 2010 Arts & Literature Prize is about to come to an end, so this is your last chance to click over and vote for your favorite Millions essay to win the prize. Pick your favorite and place your vote.

March 5, 2010

Lorin Stein Named Editor of the Paris Review 0

by C. Max Magee

Garth recently posited that Dave Eggers would be a great, if counter-intuitive, replacement for Philip Gourevitch at the Paris Review. Instead, the Paris Review has announced today the equally admirable appointment of FSG editor Lorin Stein to head up the venerable literary magazine. The announcement.