jonathan franzen
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This Is Literary: A Conversation with Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Taffy Brodesser-Akner discusses her debut novel, FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE.
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What to Read When You Need to Understand Corrupt Families
As we wait for the latest Trump crisis-slash-scandal to shake out, here is a list of great books about terrible families.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #84: Susan DeFreitas
Picture this: a curbside juggler with a rose between his teeth. That’s the opening image of Susan DeFreitas’s powerful debut novel, Hot Season. Vivid (and sometimes strange) images strike again and again, conjuring ponderosa pines, cafés, old houses, and new…
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Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living edited by Manjula Martin
Today in Rumpus Books, Elizabeth Stark reviews Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living, edited by Manjula Martin.
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The Rumpus Interview with D. Foy
D. Foy discusses his latest novel, Patricide, the evolution of “gutter opera,” his writing process, free will, and memes.
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What Not to Wear
For The Millions, Rosa Lyster analyzes the “dos and don’ts” of writing about clothes, arguing that strong descriptions of clothing can help enliven a narrative and provide clues about a character’s tastes and class.
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Literary Layers
In her review of Cynthia Ozick’s new essay collection, Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays, Zoe Heller quotes Ozick quoting Lionel Trilling in reference to Jonathan Franzen’s commercial-literary ambition: “a writer must ‘direct his words to his spiritual ancestors,…
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Kids Books All Grown-Up
…like Franzen’s novels, the Berenstain Bear books might meander, reveling in details alternately informative and irrelevant, but ultimately they’re straightforward tales about family. (Also, as a friend pointed out to me recently, JFran sort of looks like a Berenstain Bear.…
