The Unfolding of a Hidden Design
Plot has lost its prestige. Fighting against what he perceives as a changing of values in the modern novel, John Mullan writes an ode to plot, from the masterworks of…
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The Guardian
336 posts
Fifty Shades of Sexism
A new academic study published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior has found that young women who read and enjoy Fifty Shades of Gray are more likely to hold…
Beyond the Surface
At the Guardian, Alison Flood wonders whether or not genre writing, particularly romance writing, is primarily “rubbish.” In her investigation, she points out how assumptions are often made about the…
Leduc Revisited
To write is to be liberate oneself. Untrue. To write is to change nothing. Writing for the Guardian, Rafia Zakaria tells us about Violette Leduc: discovered by Simone de Beauvoir…
A Novel Solution
I just wanted to leave this in the world, and see what the world would do with it. Ever wonder what to do with all those extra books around your…
Cardboard Cutouts
For the Guardian, Lynette Lounsbury shares her adolescent experience reading the beat writers and coming to realize that there was little “space” for women in the beatnik world: I read more…
Fact or Fiction?
For the Guardian, Richard Lea investigates the distinction between fiction and nonfiction writing, a distinction that exists most firmly in anglophone cultures and literature. Lea interviews several writers who work with…
The Great Gorsky
At the Guardian, Serbian-born novelist Vesna Goldsworthy explains how the “strong plot” and structure of The Great Gatsby influenced her novel about Russian oligarchs: I know—especially for some Americans—I’ve trodden upon holy ground by reworking what…
The Most Literate Nation
Finland tops the charts for most literate nation, with the United States coming in seventh. A new study looks not just at literacy rates but at literacy behaviors. These behaviors…
A Weird and Wonderful Reality
Anna Bradley explores how recurring themes and tropes in fantasy fiction can provide “inspiration” and “teach us about our everyday lives”: Fantasy reminds us that weird and wonderful things can…
A Prize for Small Presses
Novelist Neil Griffiths wants to celebrate indie publishers with a new literary prize. He plans on fronting £2,000 ($2,820) for prize money to be split between publisher and author in…
Two Poems to Rule Them All
Two poems written by JRR Tolkien have been discovered in a school magazine from 1936. The school’s headteacher described the poems as “very atmospheric and imbued with an air of…