What’s the Purpose of the Bestseller?
‘The Bestseller Code’ reveals the well-known secrets of the formulaic novel.
William Giraldi
William Giraldi is a contributing editor at the New Republic.
Cynthia Ozick’s Critical Mass
For more than thirty years, Ozick has led the way in affirming the role and responsibility of the critic.
Fifty Shades of Moby-Dick
Did an illicit love affair give birth to the Great American Novel?
Cruel Intentions
From the written letter to online commentary, the fine art of literary hate mail endures.
Against the Dying of the Light
Katie Roiphe’s new book explores the final days of Susan Sontag, Sigmund Freud, John Updike, and other writers at the end.
Saved by the Bell
David Denby dives deep into the English classes of three high schools in his new book “Lit Up.”
The Unforgivable Half Truths of Memoir
A decade since James Frey's memoir was exposed, we're still addicted to fiction packaged as truth.
Swimming Upstream
The frustrating, enlightening, dizzying career of Stanley Fish.
Mockingbird, Inc.
Harper Lee’s juvenilia sprouts a literary industry
Just How Good Is 'To Kill a Mockingbird'?
The novel's slogan-ready ethics have crowded out literary appreciation
Confessions of a Catholic Novelist
When water, bread, and blood aren’t just water, bread, and blood
Object Lesson
Why we need physical books
Günter Grass's Hemispheric Upheaval
"Who among us wishes to be smeared always for the recklessness and lunacy of our youth?"
Immortal Beloved
Why writers want fans who last forever
Creative Destruction
Is it still possible to survive as an artist in America?
Edgar Allan Poe Was a Vampire
That’s what you love about him: his creepiness, his otherness, his charismatic diabolism
James Franco's Utterly Misguided Adaptation of Cormac McCarthy
What happens when a selfie-addicted celebrity takes on the darkest of American masters
