Dissolve by Sherwin Bitsui
At the center of Dissolve, a single line repeats four times: “I breathe it in.” These inhalations encapsulate both the rich density and the immersive capacity of Bitsui’s work.
Blog
We Have Always Lived in the Castle: A Prelude to a Myth
Shirley Jackson’s novel takes an inverted approach to the feminist retelling of male-centric myths, starting out with relatable (if spooky) characters that eventually transform into the “neighborhood witch” archetype.
Authority and Rebellion in Feminist Poetry
In recent collections, poets Anne Champion, Carla Harryman, and Cate Peebles invoke familiar literary forms only to reframe them as vehicles for feminist critique.
Paradise Rot and the Art of Sexual Awakening
In Marjam Idriss’ new translation of Jenny Hval’s novel, the biblical Fall of Man is reimagined within a narrative of queer female desire.
Mornings with Merwin
W.S. Merwin loves mornings. In his more than fifty books, the former US Poet Laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize depicts morning’s beauty in mist, light, shadow, and birdsong. As Merwin captures these moments of nature’s awakening, he reveals the depths of his own awakenings too.
Unfurled by Michelle Bailat-Jones
In Unfurled, the reader is pulled forward in short, well-crafted chapters that simulate the rough-and-tumble journey through shock, grief, and the revelation of knowledge that the narrator initially rejects—that her mother survived and was in touch with her father.
The Politics of Weather
In the wake of the recently released report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which paints a direct picture of how our weather will change in the next few decades, it’s worth taking a moment to look at how poetry has, and is, handling climate change.
The Small Tragedies of Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children
9/11 is the catalyst to launch the characters of Claire Messud’s 2006 novel from their delayed adolescence into the sobriety and cynicism of adulthood among New York’s intellectual elite.
Donna Zuckerberg’s Not All Dead White Men and Red Pill Reductionism
During the final years of Obama’s presidency, Zuckerberg hoped her new book, in shedding light on how the Internet’s “manosphere” abused ancient texts, might expand how scholars of the classics study contemporary uses of the ancient world. Then, a few days after submitting her first draft, Donald Trump was elected.