Essays

Essays

The Shapes of Grief

Witnessing the unbearable
Christina Sharpe
The Moment

Palestinian Solidarity, Then and Now

The power of encampment as a form of protest
Feisal G. Mohamed
Essays

Louise Glück’s Late Style

The fabular turn in the poet’s last three books
Teju Cole
Essays

Jean Stein’s Rolodex

The legendary editor’s social genius
Benjamin Anastas
Essays

The Path to Playwright

Discovering my literary hero in an unlikely place
Sonya Kelly
Essays

The Frictions of Interracial Love

How one fundamental difference can color every aspect of marriage
Anne Anlin Cheng

Browse

Essays

Essays

Heat Maps

Desire in the dark
Alex Marzano-Lesnevich
March 4, 2024
Essays

Lessons of the Line

Charles Simic and me
Dana Levin
March 4, 2024
Annotating the Archives

The Common Reader

Virginia Woolf in The Yale Review
Claire Messud
March 4, 2024
Objects of Desire

Jars with Well-Fitting Lids

Seeing loss more clearly
Catherine Lacey
February 14, 2024
Essays

Free All Necks

How the groundbreaking work of artist and teacher Alma Thomas inspired a generation of Black students
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
December 11, 2023
Books

Life in the Algorithm

It has reshaped culture—but how? Two new books reckon with our digital predicament
Anna Shechtman
December 11, 2023
Essays

Revisiting Dag Hammarskjöld’s Mysterious Death

One man is known to have survived the infamous crash. Why was his testimony hidden?
Susan Williams
December 11, 2023
Essays

The Night Watch

I first sought sanctuary during the Troubles. I'm still looking for it.
Darran Anderson
December 11, 2023
Essays

Why I Write

The legendary cultural critic on finding a life’s work
Greil Marcus
December 11, 2023
Essays

Ucky Art

Judith Scott, Eva Hesse, and the visceral power of "texxture"
Lauren Elkin
November 6, 2023