Flavorwire
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The Story Behind the Story
At this stoplight, you might begin to think, “I’ve been here before, there is nothing new to notice.” But it seems to me that we actually live here, and we often fail to notice what is in our own yard.…
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Wires Crossed
By this point, the relationship between books and television is complicated enough to merit its own Netflix series. Or its own book. Or maybe both: Like lovers who share an apartment, they’ve started speaking and looking alike.
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Eating at the Table of Another
The critic giveth and he taketh away. In his review of Better Living Through Criticism, Jonathon Sturgeon counters A.O. Scott’s aversion to the idea of the critic as parasite: Maybe the loneliness of the American critic stems from his obsession…
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All Mixed Up
Is The Hunger Games feminist? Does it matter? Flavorwire’s Sarah Seltzer wonders whether we’re asking the wrong questions: It seduces us with a good-vs.-evil premise, but then muddies the entire thing in the gray fog of war.
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The Whiteness of Literary Landmarks
From Alice Walker: Standing there knocking on Flannery O’Connor’s door, I do not think of her illness; her magnificent work in spite of it; I think: It all comes back to houses. Of all the preserved writers’ houses of the…
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Too Much of a Good Thing
If you like some of the things, why not read all of the things? Flavorwire’s Sarah Seltzer wonders why fans lose steam as we near the completist finish line: Maybe we’re saving those final few books for a bad day……
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Gender Bias in Book Awards
Women are winning fewer book prizes than men. And narratives about women don’t fair as well when it comes to prestigious prizes either. In fact, looking at the data, the most likely to win a prize are books by men, about…
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Trigger Warnings for Teachers, Too
It sucks to read through an essay and just abruptly read a student’s usage of rape as an analogy for, like, soccer. For Flavorwire, Sarah Seltzer discusses the importance of trigger warnings in the classroom, for students and teachers alike.
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Where We’ve Been
It’s hard to enjoy reading Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time when the stack of books on your bedside table keeps reminding you of all the cultural capital you have yet to consume. Flavorwire’s Sarah Seltzer wonders why we…
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It’s Time to Rethink Everything
At Flavorwire, Jonathon Sturgeon presents an excerpt of Tim Parks’s new book, Where I’m Reading From: The Changing World of Books. In the excerpted section, Parks questions the simple idea of what “we want from writing.”
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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…