Long out of print in the United States, Astragal (L’Astragale, 1965; tr. from the French by Patsy Southgate, 1967) came to New Directions in a wonderful way. One day Barbara Epler, publisher and president of New Directions, was talking to Patti Smith about favorite authors when Smith brought up Albertine Sarrazin. Epler admitted she had never … Read more
The winner of this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize was just announced. The Detour, by Gerbrand Bakker; tr from the Dutch by David Colmer (in the U.S. this book was published as Ten White Geese) Exciting news! I haven’t read The Detour (or Ten White Geese) yet, but Bakker’s The Twin is one of those great books that I think … Read more
Click here to read the story in its entirety on The New Yorker webpage. Steven Millhauser’s “Thirteen Wives” was originally published in the May 27, 2013 issue of The New Yorker. Betsy Steven Millhauser’s “Thirteen wives” is a mix of fiction, fantasy, advice, and memoir, and it’s magnificent. In thirteen parts, ostensibly told by a man with thirteen wives, … Read more
Laura Erber’s “That Wind Blowing Through the Plaza” (“Aquele vento na praça”; tr. from the Portuguese by Alison Entrekin) is the eighth story in Granta 121: The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists. For an overview of the issue and links to my reviews of its other stories, please click here. Besides being a writer, Laura Erber is also … Read more
Tahmima Anam’s “Anwar Gets Everything” is the third story in Granta 123: Best of Young British Novelists 4. For an overview of the issue and links to my reviews of its other stories, please click here. This piece is an extract from Anam’s forthcoming novel, Shipbreakers, the third in a trilogy she began with A Golden Age (2008) and The … Read more
One of my favorite books is Adolfo Bioy Casares’s The Invention of Morel (here) (if you haven’t read that wonderful book about loneliness and love, you should correct that immediately). I was ecstatic, then, when I saw that Melville House was publishing, as part of their Neversink Library, a collaboration between Bioy Casares and his wife, Silvina Ocampo, Where There’s Love, There’s Hate (Los Que … Read more
Last week I reviewed Gregory Spatz’ excellent new collection of short stories, Half as Happy (here). I have had the pleasure of corresponding briefly with Mr. Spatz since then, and we were discussing his favorite short stories. I asked if we could post his list here with some of his thoughts. Thanks for putting this together, … Read more
In the early days of this blog, I wrote a post on A.A. Milne’s The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh (here). That post was in response to KevinfromCanada’s “Creating a Reading Legacy” (here). There Kevin says: Any serious reader knows that one of the most important factors in creating a literate adult is to read to a child. … Read more
Click here to read the story in its entirety on The New Yorker webpage. Ben Marcus’s “The Dark Arts” was originally published in the May 20, 2013 issue of The New Yorker. Trevor “The Dark Arts” takes us to Düsseldorf where a young man named Julian Bledstein, suffering from some kind of autoimmune disorder, is seeking experimental treatment … Read more
Cristhiano Aguiar’s “Teresa” (tr. from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn) is the seventh story in Granta 121: The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists. For an overview of the issue and links to my reviews of its other stories, please click here. So far this is the strangest and most unconventional of the stories in this issue … Read more