Some contend that the term literary fiction is so overused and broad, it now amounts to little more than a name for a recent genre. And if you’re an illiterati like me, you might consider literary fiction to be like pornography — I can’t define it but “I know it when I see it.” Applying […]
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A number of the characters in the short stories that comprise Steven Millhauser’s Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories don’t look at others straight on or are even hidden in darkness. That seems appropriate. Millhauser’s work tends to present a view of parts of life and the human experience that most others don’t see or for which […] In the midst of Banned Books Week, President John F. Kennedy’s statement that “a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people” is particularly pertinent. And is it just coincidence that the Kennedy presidency seems to be […] My recent off the cuff decision to read some of the books on this year’s longlist for the Man Booker Prize paid dividends with the second book. Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture is one of the best novels I’ve read this year. The sectarian and religious politics of 20th century Ireland are the backdrop for […] It’s difficult for history to serve as a guide when so many people tend or prefer to be oblivious of it. Whether overcoming that tendency motivates Mary Doria Russell’s Dreamers of the Day is unclear. Regardless, her novel may well teach more people some basics about the origins of the modern Middle East than […] |
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