Literature
On making documentary art and the imperfect pursuit of empathy.
On writing a memoir about the undocumented immigrant experience.
The writer’s posthumously published novel, written ninety years ago, holds a mirror up to the past and present.
From the book Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann, to be published on February 11.
On writing a novel in screenplay format, the possibilities of humor, and the plurality of Asian American identity.
The writer on romance under capitalism, Nietzsche, sex work, and freedom from the tyranny of the sentence.
Goddamn it to motherfucking hell, she says. I think that ought to cover it, he says. He asks her why she feels the need to swear so much, so deliberately, what depends on it, why it’s so important to her. Why, after so long, she hasn’t grown tired. Worn out in the mouth.
On writing multiple timelines, teaching with love, and creating an epic in a minimalist way.
The writer on her memoir about complications with the church, navigating romantic longing, and doing things on her terms.
Once there was a man who was tired of breathing. It’s just such a drag, he said. So he decided to stop, but found that he couldn’t—the air just kept going in and out.
A new look at the Black Mountain poets.
The writer on her new novel, why style is political, and the kinds of subjectivity we experience.
A post-apocalyptic story about a sea captain who parents alongside a penguin at the arctic center.
I cannot feel my cat’s fur / with my left hand. / Of course / I also cannot feel / my children. with my left / hand. Their throats. I cannot / feel my own body, the soft / candle wax of it. I cannot go where / I used to.
The poet’s new collection of essays, Minor Feelings, threads intense friendships, “bad” English, and standup comedy into a meditation on the Asian-American experience.
On Erik Davis’s High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies
My second job was waiting in a window / behind the window of the job I was on // the clock for. My third job was scheduled / for that evening, but not yet // confirmed. My fourth freelance job wasn’t active / per se, but I was actively // pursuing clients.
With contributions from Ottessa Moshfegh, Carl Phillips, Lidia Yuknavitch, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and more.
The writers on indigenous ancestry, playing with language, and maintaining public personas.