Literature

In South Africa, novels have always been written in a society of fundamental divisions, in particular racial ones, and in a country where culture, language, land and other resources are perpetually contested. Most South African literature, especially since the mid-20th century, deals with colonialism and Apartheid and their aftermath, whether directly or indirectly. It was,

Forty years after the publication of Leaving the Land, Pulitzer Prize finalist Douglas Unger returns with his fifth novel, Dream City, an excoriating tale of hope, greed, and betrayal in Las Vegas. C.D. Reinhart is Unger’s fatally flawed protagonist, a failed actor bent on self-improvement who is forced to be the public face of his

There’s nothing more delicate than a line. In the world of my Triple Sonnets, my lines consist of approximately ten syllables each, mimicking our natural speaking pattern of saying ten syllables and then pausing. I love the tightness of this line—how plot, conceit, and yes, romance, are brought out in a compact yet deliberate space.

The Life of a Muse Is No Life at All Alysandra Dutton Share article Sophy by Alysandra Dutton 1882 A year before she dies, Sophy has a visitor in the hospital. It is the renowned painter John Millais, of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He brings everything: paint, palettes, linseed oil, stretched canvas already prepped a soft

In Clement Goldberg’s madcap and campy debut novel, cats, plants, alien intelligences, and a group of human misfits conspire to make us all freer and more joyfully connected. New Mistakes offers a hilarious, surreal, and sexy new vision of queer collectivity—one that involves the living earth and intelligences from beyond—while a cast of mundane and

With his coat collar raised against spitting rain, a Humphrey Bogart type might have walked the streets of Choe Myeongik’s Pyongyang. At least that’s how I see Pyongil, the main character of “Walking in the Rain,” published in 1936 in northern Korea, the first story from the collection Patterns of the Heart. Gazing up at

Books about ballet dancers are, invariably, books about growing up. Whether it is a young child desperate to win a place at a ballet school, a ballerina escaping from a dangerous relationship, or a memoir about finding a sense of belonging in the dance world, ballet books return again and again to the pain and

“I am violence! I am violence!”  This is not the war cry of a gladiator in the arena, but the primal scream of a trader on the floor in HBO’s financial drama, Industry. The words belong to Rishi Ramdani (Sagar Radia), following his threat to crack people’s heads during a tense trade, which inspires his

Growing up as a monster kid, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man were basically the big three, the unholy trinity of spookiness. I tore through Stoker and Shelley, but wondered why there wasn’t an equally-iconic fictional take on the werewolf. Sure, there were the great Universal films—Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a yearly rewatch—but

Thoughts on Bloodletting by Maria Robinson 1. The first time I saw a leech, it was attached to the shin of a shrieking artist. It was not a lone hanger-on: she was dappled in bloodsuckers from her ankle to her inguinal groove. I have never birthed an artist (/anyone), but after nearly a decade of

As the political and cultural capital of Denmark, Copenhagen enjoys a vaulted status. Founded some 1,000 years ago by the Vikings, it has grown to become one of the most important cities in Europe. With its 650,000 + residents it is the second largest in Scandinavia, behind only Stockholm (when you include Greater Copenhagen in

Mrs. Morrison Corrects Her Obituary Mrs. Morrison Proofreads Her Obituary Amelia Morrison, beloved [neglected] wife and [disappointed] mother, [also, a limber and enthusiastic lover to several of her husband’s grad students] passed away last night [which dear hubby only noticed today]. Born locally in 1952, she loved [loathed] our little town. [After the pregnancy test

The world has always been filled with mysteries. Where does the sun go at night? Why is there lightning during a storm? What happens when we die? The fun thing about humans is we can’t just let those mysteries go unsolved. The unknown is frightening, maybe even dangerous, and we live on a whole planet

In 1993, I published my first decent story in a literary journal and a few months later received a letter from an agent whose name I recognized. I’d written short stories in college classes, sent them off, and typically the only thing that came back was a rejection, housed in the self-addressed-stamped envelope I’d sent

I don’t love fish. One thing this means is that people in my life who do love fish are constantly trying to introduce me to fish that I might like. The least fishy fish in the sea! Barely Fish™! This fish almost tastes like it grew up on land! They insist that I just haven’t

A Snowplow Parent Spinning Her Wheels on Summer Vacation Marian Crotty Share article Chincoteague by Marian Crotty Nora hated driving to begin with—especially highway driving, especially with a car full of teenagers—and that day it was raining. Not hard enough to delay the trip, just opaque gray skies and slick roads, a steady thrum of

The Lebanese civil war was a series of conflicts that lasted from 1975 until 1990, claiming an estimated 150,000 lives. Although it assumed a sectarian face, there were a number of underlying causes, including economic and political inequality, a power-sharing structure that privileged Christian elites, and a widening rift between those who supported the Palestinian

My career as a criminal didn’t last long. I’m not proud about it (that I was a criminal at all, not the brevity and ineptitude of my reign).  But in high school, I stole CDs and records. That was my thing. Here’s what I would do: I would take the meager bankroll I’d earned from