In our morning reading: thoughts on Patti Smith’s latest book and Protomartyr’s latest album, delving into the history of Slaughterhouse 90210, a look at a Prince classic, and much more.
Weekend Bites: Ta-Nehisi Coates Interviewed, New Roxane Gay Nonfiction, E.L. Doctorow’s Legacy, Wendy C. Ortiz, and More
In our weekend reading: interviews with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Wendy C. Ortiz, new writing from Roxane Gay and Molly Gaudry, new music from Wax Idols, and much more.
Afternoon Bites: Tove Jansson, New Michael Chabon, Tesla in Fiction, Lorrie Moore, and More
In our afternoon reading: stories from Michael Chabon and Tove Jansson, music from St. Lenox, musings on Lorrie Moore and absent mothers, and more.
Morning Bites: Teju Cole on Kieślowski, Cheryl Strayed, Chris Kraus Interviewed, William S. Burroughs’s Legacy, and More
In our morning reading: Teju Cole on the film Three Colors: Red, an interview with Chris Kraus, the best of Cheryl Strayed’s “Dear Sugar” columns, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Chelsea Wolfe Interviewed, Patrick Modiando, Michael Chabon’s Lyrics, Brock Clarke’s Playlist, and More
In our afternoon reading: interviews with Chelsea Wolfe and Anil Dash; Michael Chabon writing lyrics; notes on a late-period Billy Wilder film; and more,
Afternoon Bites: Leonard Cohen, “Saint Mazie” Has a Cover, Postpunk Chabon, and More
News of Alison Bechdel’s new project, the cover of Jami Attenberg’s new book, notes on Leonard Cohen, new fiction from Mairead Case, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Happy Birthday Sub Pop, Michael Chabon Doing “Casanova,” Literary Baseball, and More
“Since they first reunited in 1985, Wire has had an exceptionally weird relationship to its own past. During their commercial peak in the latter half of the 80s, they refused to play anything from the pre-breakup era, and for the first few years of their current incarnation, they mostly acted as if they’d jumped straight from Pink Flag to the year 2000.” Douglas Wolk on the latest — kind of — from Wire. What, exactly, has steampunk done to alternate history novels? If you […]
On Shop Novels, Past and Present
Consider the campus novel. It’s a genre within literary fiction capable of encompassing works as thematically and stylistically diverse as Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, Ishmael Reed’s Japanese by Spring, and Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim. As disparate as these novels are, however, one can find certain structures in common. Though no two colleges or universities are the same, the basic structures of most are similar enough that a hierarchy of characters can be easily established. (The same could be said […]