Posts by author
Victor Luo
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Awful (Fictional) Fathers
With Father’s Day just around the corner, we’re tasked with remembering all the good things about our fathers, which can be difficult. What might help? Remembering just how bad other fathers can be. Electric Literature has a list of terrible fathers…
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Hemingway and the Trendiness of the Badly Behaved Writer
While most know Hemingway to be a favorite of stereotypical “macho” literature buffs, what with the author’s tendencies for vicious criticism and outright brawling, not many know just how vulnerable he was starting out as a complete nobody in the…
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Self-Publishing Vs. Traditional Publishing
Who hasn’t felt that awkward moment between laughing and crying when the question, “do writers make money?” pops up? Unlike movie-makers and musicians, exact figures for authors’ earnings have always been notoriously difficult to retrieve. However, with the advent of Amazon’s…
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First Edition of Alice in Wonderland Worth Millions
Alice in Wonderland remains one of the most beloved pieces of children’s literature, leaving its first editions truly a treasure for book collectors everywhere. Now, a first edition is going up to auction, and it’s expected to sell for an…
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When Writers Read in Empty Rooms
I wasn’t an adult. I wasn’t accomplished. I sure as hell wasn’t a novelist. I was 11, skinny and afraid, standing in front of my sixth grade class, asking if anyone liked me. Anyone? Anyone at all? Being a debut…
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Celebrating the Legacy of Valley of the Dolls
One of the most well-known novels that has spawned its own cult following, Valley of the Dolls immortalized tales of women struggling with marriage, drug addiction, and class and sparked lively discussion across the country. Over at Hazlitt, Manisha Aggarwal-Schifelitte,…
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Books That Appear When We Need Them Most
There is a particular way we love books that find us at exactly the right time, a love that swells beyond the dexterity of the writing or believability of the characters. Books that appear when we need them most become…
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The Link Between Writing and Psychopathy
We’ve heard the arguments (and read American Psycho) about how success in the business world is often linked with psychopathic traits, but surely the same couldn’t be said about success in creative fields like writing? New research suggests that strong…
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The Case for Including More Female Scientists in Literature
If female characters are restricted to the roles of artist, dancer, waitress, or barista, their potential to generate fiction that explores existentially rich and original worlds also seems restricted. In the ongoing discussion of groups in sore need of better…
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Are You Living an E.M. Forster Novel?
Ever feel like your life feels eerily drawn out of A Room With a View or Howard’s End? Check off this checklist and find out if you’re in a whirlwind of irony and hypocrisy.
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When Computers Choose Which Novels to Publish
We’re used to Amazon producing recommendations alongside books we buy, but are we prepared for a world where computerized data also picks what gets published? Inkitt, an electronic publishing platform, has announced that they will be utilizing algorithms to pick…
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Learning from Sylvia Plath’s Thesis
I kept Plath’s “Magic Mirror” close by as I wrote my own thesis. This knowledge that someone else—a literary titan who had seen me through my own breakdown—had attempted a similar project, using a proxy form to interrogate a personal…