Posts by author
Jake Slovis
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Fingerprints On Every Sentence
For Electric Literature, Selin Gökcesu shares her experience rereading Jane Eyre. Though she had loved the novel in childhood, Gökcesu’s MFA experience and her “selective” adult perspective “eroded” her interest in the novel: At thirty-eight, what I perceived as Brontë’s…
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Beyond the Surface
At the Guardian, Alison Flood wonders whether or not genre writing, particularly romance writing, is primarily “rubbish.” In her investigation, she points out how assumptions are often made about the “surface” elements of genre works and cites literary novels that…
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Welcome to Miami
For The Daily Beast, Alex Segura analyzes what makes Miami such a great backdrop for mystery novels and stories: It’s easy to be lulled by the Caribbean breeze and beautiful sights, but Miami can be lethal, too, its urban sprawl littered…
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Book Cover Showdown
For The Millions, Claire Cameron compares book covers from the United States and United Kingdom in an attempt to develop an “overarching theory” and explain how cultures “divide.”
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Let’s Have an Existential Crisis… In Space
For Electric Literature, Anya Groner discusses the role of space tourism in modern science fiction, and explores how the focus of space exploration narratives have shifted from the technological aspects of interplanetary life to the anxieties and psychological challenges faced…
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The “Transmutation” of Objects
For Open Culture, Ayun Halliday investigates Patti Smith’s relationship to objects and literature, highlighting how the songwriter, artist, and author looks to objects in order to feel “closer” to her favorite writers: She and husband Smith celebrated their first anniversary by…
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Cardboard Cutouts
For the Guardian, Lynette Lounsbury shares her adolescent experience reading the beat writers and coming to realize that there was little “space” for women in the beatnik world: I read more Kerouac, The Dharma Bums my favourite, and then I read…
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The Great Gorsky
At the Guardian, Serbian-born novelist Vesna Goldsworthy explains how the “strong plot” and structure of The Great Gatsby influenced her novel about Russian oligarchs: I know—especially for some Americans—I’ve trodden upon holy ground by reworking what is for them the literary equivalent of the stars and…
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Relying on Memory
For The Millions, Antonio Ruiz-Camacho interviews novelist Karan Mahajan about the origins of his recently released novel The Association of Small Bombs. The two also discuss how moving from New Delhi to America shaped Mahajan’s writing: It gave me a sense of freedom in my writing. I had a private…
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A Caricature of Incorrectness
For the New York Times, Benjamin Moser and Charles McGrath explore the works of authors who they believe have been unfairly stigmatized. While Moser analyzes why Susan Sontag’s work has become branded as “rubbish” and “archetypal,” McGrath confronts Kipling’s reputation as a…
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Books Without Authors
At Electric Literature, Lincoln Michel wonders why readers care so much about Elena Ferrante’s “real” identity, particularly when the anonymous author has made it clear that she believes books “have no need of their authors” after they’ve been penned. Michel…
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The Danger in Neat Identifications
For The Millions, Edan Lepucki interviews novelist Dana Spiotta about her latest release Innocents and Others. In addition to exploring the process that went into writing the novel, the two discuss how to construct narrative by trusting instinct and intuition: It has a…