Womanhood in Breasts and Eggs
Mieko Kawakami’s 2008 novel addresses the multifaceted nature of what it means to move through the world as a woman, which means presenting womanhood in a variety of ways, ages, and life experiences.
Critical Essays
Reading Flights in a Time of Isolation
Olga Tokarczuk’s most recent book is filled with themes for this stationary time—the longing not just for travel, but for immortality through movement, through time or space, accompanied by a fascination with our fellow travelers.
Jewtopia
As she got older, anytime someone was thinking of leaving town, my grandmother would implore them to stay, reciting the refrain that has now become a family catchphrase: “Don’t go no place,” she’d say. Family is the place. Nobody understands this interpretation of the utopian ideal better than immigrant communities.
The Island Child’s Myths
A good story may seem to transform experience into myth, but as Molly Aitken’s debut novel explores, it cannot expunge the realities of the past. Nor is the world of myth any good place actually to live.
Watching King Lear on Zoom
Technology (whether we mean social networking, video conferencing, virtual reality, or even language itself) can be both perilous and liberating, an architect of intimacy and an architect of loneliness too.
Untold Stories in Last Call on Decatur Street
Iris Martin Cohen’s new novel is a reflection, a condemnation, and a compassionate call to action; it is the story of how we can start to open our eyes to see better and do better.
The Poetics of Liberation
The making of necessary new systems of justice and wellness will not be a single act of creation; it will be—and already is—an ongoing act of collaborative composition.
The Value of the Third-Person Perspective in Evicted
The problematic nature of evictions has come to greater prominence in recent weeks. Such attention is gratifying and long overdue, and in this context, Matthew Desmond’s 2016 book offers an important example of how writing can speak on complex social problems while being respectful of the subject matter and never losing sight of what matters.
Past as Place in Subduction
Kristen Millares Young’s novel explores the idea of people’s histories and stories, whether personal or communal, as places that can anchor or be explored and learned from.