Female Power Versus Toxic Masculinity
The three newly translated novellas in Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman’s ‘We Were Forbidden’ display a storytelling skill that seems magically effortless.
Around the World
"For a long time now I haven't been I."
— Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Making History Sing: On Vera Mutafchieva’s “The Case of Cem”
Josh Billings reviews Bulgarian author Vera Mutafchieva’s historical novel “The Case of Cem.”
A Secret and Threatening Reality: On Liliana Colanzi’s “You Glow in the Dark”
Drew Zeiba reviews Liliana Colanzi’s “You Glow in the Dark.”
Hunger for the Whole: On Jacob Emery’s “The Vortex That Unites Us”
Caryl Emerson reviews Jacob Emery’s “The Vortex That Unites Us: Versions of Totality in Russian Literature.”
The Real Unrealists: On Andrey Platonov’s “Chevengur”
Josh Billings reviews the new translation of Russian author Andrey Platonov’s classic novel “Chevengur.”
W. G. Sebald’s Deepfakes: On “Shadows of Reality”
Adam Sobsey reviews “Shadows of Reality: A Catalogue of W.G. Sebald’s Photographic Materials,” a collection from the works of novelist and essayist W. G. Sebald.
The Failed Saint: On George Orwell’s India
Jason Christian visits George Orwell’s birthplace in India.
Decadent Masculinity: On Pierre Drieu La Rochelle’s “The Fire Within”
Conor Truax reviews the republication of Pierre Drieu La Rochelle’s 1931 novel “The Fire Within.”
History as Dissent: On Ian Johnson’s “Sparks” and Tania Branigan’s “Red Memory”
Craig Calhoun reviews two books on history and memory in China: Ian Johnson’s “Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future” and Tania Branigan’s “Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution.”
Urban Transgression and the Female Flâneur: On Leesa Gazi’s “Good Girls”
Torsa Ghosal reviews the English translation of Bangladeshi British author Leesa Gazi’s novel “Good Girls.”
Zeina Hashem Beck’s “Survival Sonnet”
A new poem from Zeina Hashem Beck.
Capitalists Inside a Communist State: On Two Books and the Puzzle of Chinese Billionaires
Carey Mott reviews two books about the blurred lines between communism and capitalism in China: Christopher Marquis and Kunyuan Qiao’s “Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise” and Scott Moore’s “China’s Next Act: How Sustainability and Technology Are Reshaping China’s Rise and the World’s Future.”
