Sam Lipsyte on the What and the How of Writing

Sam Lipsyte on the What and the How of Writing

“Style is your filter on all of this... how it summons language in you, how life comes to be alive on the page.”

By Sam Lipsyte | December 9, 2022

“O love tell the committee that I know.” A close reading of a Muriel Rukeyser poem.

“O love tell the committee that I know.” A close reading of a Muriel Rukeyser poem.

By Snigdha Koirala | December 15, 2021

Hisham Matar on the Migratory Fictions of Joseph Conrad

Hisham Matar on the Migratory Fictions of Joseph Conrad

The Author of The Return Reconsiders the Story, “Amy Foster”

By Hisham Matar | December 3, 2021

Endings That Change Everything: On Alice Munro’s Literary Innovations

Endings That Change Everything: On Alice Munro’s Literary Innovations

Elizabeth Poliner Close Reads Anton Chekhov’s “The Darling” and Munro’s “Friend of My Youth”

By Elizabeth Poliner | July 9, 2021

Returning to Riva: Close Reading a Little-Known Short Story by Franz Kafka

Returning to Riva: Close Reading a Little-Known Short Story by Franz Kafka

Daniel Heller-Roazen on Fleeting Narrators, Disappearing Text, and "The Hunter Gracchus"

By Daniel Heller-Roazen | March 26, 2021

I think about this tiny detail from <em>The Talented Mr. Ripley</em> all the time.

I think about this tiny detail from The Talented Mr. Ripley all the time.

By Emily Temple | February 24, 2021

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The Question of Homoeroticism in Whitman's Poetry

By Mark Doty | April 14, 2020

Kay Ryan on the Preposterous Beauty of Gerard Manley Hopkins

By Kay Ryan | April 13, 2020

A Close Reading of the Chilling Prologue of Donna Tartt's The Secret History

By Emily Temple | March 12, 2020

The Comic Tragedy of a Narrator with No Sense of Self

The Comic Tragedy of a Narrator with No Sense of Self

Danielle Dutton Close-Reads Ann Quin's Berg

By Danielle Dutton | June 21, 2019

Jane Alison on Raymond Carver<br> and Tobias Wolff

Jane Alison on Raymond Carver
and Tobias Wolff

Two Close Readings: Wavelets

By Jane Alison | April 18, 2019

A Close Reading of Jack Kerouac's Advice to Writers

A Close Reading of Jack Kerouac's Advice to Writers

"Belief & Technique for Modern Prose" as Read By Your Resident Kerouac Skeptic

By Emily Temple | March 12, 2019

On the Destabilizing Brilliance of Robert Coover's

On the Destabilizing Brilliance of Robert Coover's "The Babysitter"

Or, How to Accept the Pain of Not Knowing

By Emily Temple | February 4, 2019

An Unnecessarily Close Reading of <em>That</em> Scene in <em>Portnoy's Complaint</em>

An Unnecessarily Close Reading of That Scene in Portnoy's Complaint

Chopped Meat Through the Kosher Grinder

By Emily Temple | January 11, 2019

A Close-Reading of <em>The Talented Mr. Ripley</em> as Coming of Age Story

A Close-Reading of The Talented Mr. Ripley as Coming of Age Story

Dickie Greenleaf! Is It Really You?

By Emily Temple | November 30, 2018

The Pleasures of John Ashbery's

The Pleasures of John Ashbery's "Difficult" Poetry

Looking Back at his Final Poem, One Year After his Death

By Nathan Goldman | September 4, 2018

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