Posts by author
Nikita Schoen
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Save Your Breath
Bookslut features an essay by Elvis Bego that’s part passionate defense of short books, part review of Cesar Aira’s The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira. “America, vast in space and in ambition, seems to goad its writers to impose a brazen…
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“True Art is Above False Honor”
For those of you who are trying to make the slow transition from political anxiety back to the relative feather mattress of literary intrigue, The Millions has a list of “The Unelectable in Literature,” a delicious selection of characters (fictional…
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Juicy Poetry and Film Theory for Your Friday
HTMLGIANT features Carrie Lorig’s breathtaking review of Raul Zurita’s Dreams for Kurosawa, a book of poems provoked jointly by the film Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (take that literally; Kurosawa directed a haunting film which reproduced dreams he actually had) and Augusto Pinochet’s horrific…
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The Good Old Days
Before social media, people spread ideas with postcards. Collectors Weekly features an article of the double-edged sword variety. Lisa Hicks provides a selection of Suffrage-era postcards (both pro and against), but her accompanying essay is a far cry from a…
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A Sound Bite to Savor
Who doesn’t love awesomely funny and quirky writers who slyly and inevitably ravage us with their insights into the sometimes devastating complexities of life and interaction with our fellow human beings? What about one such writer reading the work of…
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Fallen Trees, Broken Windows and Beer Bottles
We’ve got a treat for those of you who followed Sandy’s destructive path and what has been left in her wake. How about a nice essay about how New Yorkers can manage to come together after a disaster? Over at Outside,…
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Vampires of the Sea
The Los Angeles Review of Books features a gorgeous review by Colin Dickey on Vampyroteuthis Infernalis: A Treatise. In other words, a book on the search for the elusive and alien vampire squid (a search which may or may not include…
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The Thimble is the Tool of the Proletariat
Whether you think Monopoly is boring, cutthroat, depressing, or an opportunity to display your impressive financial skills, we bet you didn’t know the complete history of the board game. Harper’s Magazine features a hefty article on the game’s origins, which…
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Simple Madness or Something Else?
Today is the day for ghost stories. At The New Yorker, Brad Leithauser analyzes Henry James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” focusing on the distinction still being puzzled out by readers and scholars alike: were the ghosts real, or was…
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Arrr! What do you mean by “cucumber” walls?
Peter Mountford writes about lending a hand to the mysterious “AlexanderIII” of Moscow, who is conducting a pirated translation of his novel. What begins as an author’s dream of “overhearing” a discussion of his phrase-work quickly becomes something else entirely.…
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Donald Hall Says “Thank You” Twice
Donald Hall offers The New Yorker a series of reminiscences, observations and gentle declarations concerning the poetry reading, a beast he has come to know most intimately during his lifetime, both from the audience and the stage. “Sound had always…
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It Never Hurts To Take A Second Look
Over on The Millions, Thea Lim takes an analytical look at Junot Díaz and his book, This Is How You Lose Her, shedding some light on the reactions it has inspired, from the accolades and awards, to feminist criticism and the influence of race.…