Posts by author
Jake Slovis
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High Romance and Envy
Before Joan Didion, there was Eileen Chang. A slender, dramatic woman with a taste for livid details and feverish colors, Chang combined Didion’s glamor and sensibility with the terrific wit of Evelyn Waugh. She could, with a single phrase, take you hostage.…
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Looking Back to Modernism
At the Guardian, novelist Julian Barnes shares his experiences developing a taste for art during his childhood, and how modernism worked to change his early impressions of what art could be. In addition, he offers insight as to how modernist…
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To MFA or not to MFA? That Isn’t the Question.
Recently, it has become fashionable to debate the pros and cons of pursuing a MFA. However, for the Millions, Hannah Gersen suggests that this debate has steered the conversation away from a more difficult question: how do we support writers who…
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The Joy of Knausgaard
For Flavorwire, Jonathon Sturgeon works to define “contemporary” literature and wonders where Karl Knausgaard’s My Struggle fits into the mix. What he ultimately argues is that contemporary literature is often “project based,” and that Knausgaard’s self-exploratory novel is the most definitive example of this…
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What Makes A Writer Famous?
For the New Yorker, Joshua Rothman explores why certain writers reach “long-term literary endurance” and others fall into obscurity. What he discovers is that long-term fame often has to do with “regular reinterpretation,” which requires writers to be multi-dimensional and adaptable…
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The Dystopian Present
For the Guardian, Megan Quibell argues that climate change has changed dystopian fiction, as many recent dystopian works rely on a “catalyst” that stems from “the destruction of the environment.” The result is a series of books that “hammers home” the…
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Gatsby’s Not So Great Review
In accordance with the 90th anniversary of The Great Gatsby, Time has republished its original review of the novel. The review is just one paragraph and offers “little hint” of the wide spread fame the book would later achieve.
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The USPS Doesn’t Know Its Angelou Quotes
After the United States Postal Service misattributed a quote to Maya Angelou on a commemorative stamp, many suggested that the Postal Service “had simply believed too readily what they read on the Internet.” Now, for the New Yorker, Ian Crouch argues that…
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Shakespeare on the Verrazano
In 2013 Ross Williams began an ambitious project: film all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets in 154 different New York City locations, and reach “beyond the restrictions of a live performance in a small theater.” Now the project has taken a…
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The Consequences of “Prize Culture”
Over at the Guardian, Rachel Cooke reflects on her experience as a judge for this year’s Folio prize and shares what reading the eighty submissions revealed to her about the state of British and American fiction: The British social history…
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Ishiguro’s Deliberate Process
Elysha Chang interviews Kazuo Ishiguro for Electric Literature. The two primarily discuss the process and planning that went into Ishiguro’s new release The Buried Giant. Ishiguro says: When I’m planning the project that I actively look for ideas and read very widely. I…
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When Critics Miss The Point
For Slate, Cristina Hartmann explains how The Great Gatsby went from a marginal publication to a central part of America’s literary canon. According to Hartmann, much of the novel’s early struggles emerged from criticism that misrepresented Fitzgerald’s satirical position, as critics stood too…