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Best Sellers, Harry Crews, and More
Best sellers were once written by authors like Mary McCarthy and J.D.
Zelig With a Paintbrush, and More
Zelig with a paintbrush.
Ocean Vuong, Semicolons, and More
In 1781 a semicolon appeared once every 90 words.
The Dull Men’s Club, Thomas Mallon, and More
What’s discussed at the Dull Men’s Club? Windshield wipers, coat hangers, and mailboxes, among other banalities... more »
Geniuses Behaving Badly, and More
Get published for $20, co-author with a Nobel Prize-winner for $700: With academic paper mills, anything seems possible — for a fee...
The Impossible Genre, Manifesto Houses, and More
The fact checker's improvised dance: Intuition, calculation, and the seeking of truth...
End Literary Prizes, and More
Patricia Highsmith asked one question when hiring an assistant: “Do you like Hemingway?” “No” was the only permitted response...
The "Most Psychotic" Scientists, and More
Paleoanthropology, a notoriously cutthroat discipline, attracts "the most psychotic" scientists.
The End of Hollywood, and More
The end of Hollywood. The movie business has moved to cities like Albuquerque and Atlanta. Even movies set in L.A. are now shot elsewhere... more »
The Travel Writer's Dilemma, and More
What makes Thomas Mann’s liberal cosmopolitanism so compelling is that, temperamentally and philosophically, he remained a conservative...
Shulamith Firestone’s Schizophrenia, and More
There’s no gay writer whose career Edmund White didn't influence, “even if they don’t know it: He made all of us possible”...
The Art of Bad Writing, and More
Is it a good idea to posthumously publish someone's private notes from psychiatry sessions?
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