Essays
Do You Actually Have to Finish That Novel?
A critic considers the strange moral pressure we feel to read to the very last page
Michel Chaouli
The Body I Couldn't Abstract
Motherhood reshaped how I see shame, art, and the female body
Megan O’Grady
Browse
Essays
James Baldwin in Turkey
How Istanbul changed his career—and his life
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi
June 12, 2023
The Consolations of Failure
Two new books look at what failing can—and cannot—teach us
Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
June 12, 2023
Monstrous Hybrids and the Conjuring of Legacy
A visit to a namesake scrapyard changes a novelist's sense of inheritance
Idra Novey
April 5, 2023
