Hunting the Pages
I find the threat of predation satisfying in a short story because, when done well, it solicits a visceral reaction. The etymology of the word visceral can be traced to…
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Ploughshares
74 posts
Exploring Secret Spaces
The inscription—the handwriting of a person to whom I’m related, but who has always been, for me, unreachable, unknowable—wrapped an additional layer of mystery around this book about mystery. I…
Funny Names Are Serious Business
Names play an important role in defining characters and can inform readers of what they should expect from a text. But not all names need to be serious—indeed, for much of…
Literary Opposites
Here’s why I think that Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy are opposites: Roth is a builder, and McCarthy is a destroyer. Over at the Ploughshares blog, Lily Meyerin tells us why…
An Intro to New Media Lit
At the Ploughshares blog, Matthew Burnside has a quick rundown on the evolution of the hypertext story and the emerging literature of the digital age.
Writing and Collecting
When I left the house on Pace Street and moved to Vermont, I became a writer. I became a writer because I was so broken down by early motherhood that…
Fresh Breath in the Afterlife
Dear Emily, For you— Some altoids—breathe Peacefully— And mintily— Nancy McCabein visits the graves of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Emily Dickinson (where her friend left some breath mints) for the…
Victorian Hair Art’s Literary Legacy
The Ploughshares blog looks at Victorian hair art and the way it was woven into classics such as Wuthering Heights, Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women.
Writing the Holidays
Sometimes we forget that many of the books and plays we know so very well are set during holiday festivities. Over at the Ploughshares blog, Annie Cardi reminds us of…
How to Read and Write Indian Literature
Anyone who simplifies a nation’s discourse misreads that nation. When you’re reading the texts of a recently created nation like India, which was only founded in 1947, you must know…
A Feminist Education
As I continue reading Gay’s book, I can’t help but think of how my definition of myself as a feminist has evolved over the years. Looking back over the past…
An Ideal MFA
How would a writer without an MFA imagine an ideal Creative Writing degree program? Over at Ploughshares, Rebecca Makkai invites you to consider her optimal 2015/2016 course catalog, warning that…