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Patrick Madden teaches writing at Brigham Young University and is the author of the essay collection Quotidiana. His essays frequently appear in literary magazines and have been featured in The Best Creative Nonfiction and The Best American Spiritual Writing anthologies. He pays close attention to the details of the every day, infusing humor and self-deprecation, combining […]
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Kristopher Jansma discusses his second novel, Why We Came to the City, facing adulthood in his thirties, and working through grief and loss in writing.
...moreInfinite Jest recently turned twenty, a birthday so momentous it merited a new edition of the tome for college students to display on their bedside tables. In light of the renewed discussion about David Foster Wallace’s magnum opus, D.T. Max reminds disciples that he also wrote some other stuff: Alongside his first collection, “Girl with […]
...moreLike every other year, in 2015 we wrestled with the knowledge of our constructed selves. But rather than eschew personhood as a postmodernist might, we considered just who we’ve been inventing: What do you write about when you no longer put stock in the idea—the narrative—that nature exists objectively and independently of our stories about […]
...moreStar Wars is a Western. Star Wars is a samurai movie. Star Wars isa space opera. Star Wars is a war film. Star Wars is a fairy tale. Slate‘s Forrest Wickman argues that George Lucas’s serial masterpiece isn’t just underrated—it’s completely misunderstood.
...moreOver at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Casey Michael Henry considers Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly a new bid to revive a “Black Postmodernism”: Not only does the album fulfill many specific qualities of postmodernism, and postmodernism specifically shaped by black experience, but also does so within a form traditionally consigned to canonical, usually […]
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Jacob Wren discusses his newest novel, Polyamorous Love Song, the relationship between art and ethics, and whether Kanye West is a force for good in the art and music world.
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Rick Moody emails with Scott Timberg, author of the new book Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class, about Bob Dylan’s new Sinatra covers album, the need for cultural gatekeepers, and the “slippery sub genre” of bad-on-purpose art.
...moreNames 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 the last century, comedic names have been preferred.
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire returns with a powerful take on fascism and violence and postmodernism.
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