Maybe this novel is a Bildungsroman about freedom, with young Katharina its hero and the West her inevitable liberation? The post Lust, Loss, and Liberation in Jenny Erpenbeck’s ‘Kairos’ appeared first on The Millions.

"We shouldn’t give in. We want to continue reading complex literature.” The post International Booker Prize Winners on Nostalgia, Translation, and ‘Time Shelter’ appeared first on The Millions.

New books from Isabel Allende, Heidi Julavits, Lorrie Moore, and more—here's what we can't wait to read in June. The post June Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month) appeared first on The Millions.

Sex, in Trevor’s oeuvre, is dirty. The post The William Trevor Reader: “Music” appeared first on The Millions.

"I want make 'Poetry' a space that is more inclusive than it was in the past." The post ‘Poetry’ Editor-in-Chief Adrian Matejka Looks to the Future appeared first on The Millions.

"She serves almost as the polar opposite of today’s urge to brand everything. You can’t brand Connie Converse." The post The Lost and Found Music of Connie Converse appeared first on The Millions.

People are busy and life is difficult, and it’s asking a lot to get through half of a narrative before being told why it really matters. The post The William Trevor Reader: “Virgins” appeared first on The Millions.

I collect famous migraine sufferers. I can trust them; they are a consolation. The post On Migraines, Pain, and Creativity appeared first on The Millions.

"Is performance always disingenuous? Can you perform something, but also really mean it?" The post For ‘Dykette’ Author Jenny Fran Davis, All Writing Is Performance appeared first on The Millions.

"When I'm writing I get a creeping sense of doom if the prose is laborious, I want to get out of there." The post Max Porter Is Afraid of Bad Writing appeared first on The Millions.

The first paragraph paints a prelapsarian portrait so vivid and brightly burnished that it feels like a glimpse over the locked back gate of Eden. The post The William Trevor Reader: “The Smoke Trees of San Pietro” appeared first on The Millions.

An interloper amid the wealthy, Alex both witnesses and tampers with the tableau of idle luxury. The post Getting Ahead: On Emma Cline’s ‘The Guest’ appeared first on The Millions.

I remember with cruel clarity the day when someone said to me—I was still only little—“Your family died in an oven.” The post I’m the One Who Survives: An Excerpt from ‘The Postcard’ appeared first on The Millions.

Research isn’t just for acquiring knowledge—it’s creatively generative, too The post The Art of the Beachcomber appeared first on The Millions.

Both children need my attention simultaneously, and like Lear’s kingdom, I’m unsure how to divide it. The post On Madness, Motherhood, and ‘King Lear’ appeared first on The Millions.

"With reality dating shows, there’s this stigma that it’s stupid, it’s not super rigorous, it’s just light and fun." The post For Julia Argy, Reality TV Is the Ultimate Fiction appeared first on The Millions.

What I sense is Trevor having fun fucking around, making a story out of a Joyce story, and that's enough for me. The post The William Trevor Reader: “Two More Gallants” appeared first on The Millions.

It's time we understand why the nuns of this era were drawn to writing and publishing poetry. The post The Literary Lives of Mid-Century Nuns appeared first on The Millions.

"If I am writing about my life then I am also writing about my garden." The post Camille T. Dungy on ‘Soil,’ Growth, and Gardening appeared first on The Millions.

I await the the first great contribution to dental literature. The post Dentistry and Doubt: On Writing About Teeth appeared first on The Millions.

"As I get older, the best way for me to work is to assume I’m already dead." The post Sammy Harkham Works As If Already Dead appeared first on The Millions.

This is one of about 10 stories in the 'Collected' that stand as an example of formal perfection. The post The William Trevor Reader: “Bodily Secrets” appeared first on The Millions.

New books Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Emma Cline, Samantha Irby, Brandon Taylor, and more. The post May Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month) appeared first on The Millions.

If anything, Chat GPT-3 has something of the oracular about it. The post On AI, Authorship, and Algorithmic Literature appeared first on The Millions.

"This whole genre thing is really all about marketing, not about writing." The post Jennifer Egan and Terese Svoboda on Ghosts, Genre, and ‘Dog on Fire’ appeared first on The Millions.

We’d read this story before. How could I make it fresh, original, and literary? The post On Writing (and Rewriting) Illness appeared first on The Millions.

It’s difficult to imagine what would compel someone to write a story like this. The post The William Trevor Reader: “Her Mother’s Daughter” appeared first on The Millions.

To defend or disavow? The choice is yours, and it feels good to have a choice. The post Love Ruins Everything: On Claire Dederer’s ‘Monsters’ appeared first on The Millions.

"A lot of the language for writing about sex is quite ugly." The post How Madelaine Lucas Writes Such Good Sex Scenes appeared first on The Millions.

"It's the beauty of fiction that you are able to hold these contradictions in one place." The post Rachel Heng Embraces Contradiction appeared first on The Millions.