To Make Good Art from Bad Things
Gay Talese’s new book The Voyeur’s Motel has garnered some well-earned bad press after its source was discredited. But was it any good? For The New Republic, Alexandra Molotkow argues that…
Posts by author
Roxie Pell
287 posts
Roxie Pell is a student at Wesleyan University, where she writes for Wesleying and The Argus and tweets hilarious nuggets of pure wisdom @jonathnfranzen.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to @ Them
Trolls have come a long way since their days guarding bridges. Over at Electric Literature, Andrew Ervin compares today’s Internet vermin to their bestial forbears.
Carving the Uncanny Valley
Any Luddite with half a brain has already begun stockpiling nonperishables for the inevitable moment the robots rise up against us. Over at the Ploughshares blog, Joelle Renstrom recounts how…
“The Way We Thought We Would Be Interested”
For the New Yorker, James Wood praises Joy Williams’s oblique precision: In Williams’s world, we are all wandering interlopers—adrift, trapped, groundless—looking for visitors’ privileges.
An Explanation, Not a Justification
At Lit Hub, Joyce Chen explains The Seventh Wave’s reason for being (not that she needs to): We were not trying to prove ourselves “right” or defy any odds to become…
Too Many Books
If you’re only holding onto that copy of Infinite Jest to prove that you finished it, it might be time to let go. At The Awl, Nell Beram offers tips for…
It’s Never Just a Game
Adelle Waldman reviews Jay McInerney’s latest novel for the New Yorker: There’s no dodging the paradox at the heart of his career. Although his best books have never been merely…
Is This It?
When a writer has said all that he or she has to say, or as much as possible before mortality intercedes, the body of work remains incomplete no matter the…
What Do You Call It?
Book titles are an essential component of the texts they gesture at. They’re also advertising. At Catapult, Hannah Gersen recounts the naming process for her novel Home Field: A short story title…
Daddy Wasn’t There
Anyone who made it through high school English can probably recall reading a story or two about young protagonists finding themselves in the absence of parental guidance. From whence does…
Captain of My Soul
For the New Yorker, Rachel Aviv profiles philosopher Martha Nussbaum: Like Narcissus, she says, philosophy falls in love with its own image and drowns.
Tell Me about Yourself
Do you love this shit? Are you high right now? Do you ever get nervous? Quizzes are everywhere these days, from meandering author interviews to hard-hitting investigations to exactly which Disney…