An Experiment in Reading Elena Ferrante
How do you let others influence you while retaining your own ideas? Four literary critics tried to find out.
literary criticism
Adventures in Modernism
The unlikely, energizing friendship of Hugh Kenner and Guy Davenport
A Revered Biographer Looks at His Own Life
James Atlas wrote two influential literary biographies. Now, he turns to memoir.
What’s So “Inscrutable” About Kazuo Ishiguro?
The author has now won the Nobel Prize. But critics are still struggling to understand him.
Why Melville Matters
Jean Giono’s short, unclassifiable book is an ode to "Moby-Dick" and the power of literature to command empathy.
What Kate Did
Today's most heated literary arguments uphold the legacy of Kate Millett's 'Sexual Politics.'
From the Stacks: “Realism in France”
March 21, 1923
It Is Our Duty to Practice Harsh Criticism
A literary manifesto for the ages
