In Search of Futures Past
How Marcel Proust’s finances affected his writing.
All posts tagged: books
Emmanuel Macron’s Grand Narrative
Three contemporary French authors illuminate the president’s divisive neoliberal agenda and how a diversionary ‘Europe under attack’ narrative might be the key to his success.
Rethinking Fitzgerald’s Final Days
What I’d Die for You tells us about Fitzgerald’s troubled final years. And how he turned personal tragedy into his best work.
‘The Story of Memory’: A Conversation with Paula Hawkins
Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on The Train and Into the Water, reflects on two unreliable things: narrators and memory.
France’s Unlikely Literary Rebel
Maylis de Kerangal’s “The Heart” combines the language of science, philosophy, and pop culture to create a novel that defies categorization—and frustrates certain literary élites.
You Can Do Anything if You Just Do it Slowly
The best-selling author Lauren Groff on artistic narcissism, Véra Nabokov, and her winding road to success.
John Banville on the Utter Mystery of Writing
Five decades after trading paintbrushes for pens, the Irish novelist says writing fiction remains an enigma.
Lost Toys and Flying Machines: A Talk with Kazuo Ishiguro
A short profile of the Man Booker Prize-winning author for The New Yorker
Fiction, Morality, and the Science of Reading
Books are much more. They are a way of being fully human. — Susan Sontag Anyone who has ever cozied up in a corner with a fascinating novel knows the pleasures of an afternoon spent reading. Perhaps it was when you whizzed through breezy books like the Harry Potter series or spent time (and a great deal of energy) grappling with the more serious concepts put forth by the likes of Dostoevsky or Safran Foer. Either way, finding that truly engaging novel is a beautiful moment, and is always something to be cherished. As C.S. Lewis said, “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” But what if reading is more than just a simple pleasure, more than something that entertains, teaches and engrosses?
Why the Rich Romanticize the Working Class
“Even the poor have something very chic about them.” – Karl Lagerfeld, creative director for Chanel and Fendi, discussing India’s slum-dwelling, “elegant” women After watching Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s kitschy film Amélie and taking in its bright colors and even brighter vision of Paris and love, it’s easy to want to drop everything and find a tiny apartment in Montmartre. There, you could ride around on a one-speed bicycle, work at a charming brasserie, and find love, perhaps even sport a cute lil’ bob like Miss Audrey Tautou (God bless her and that haircut).
