Critical Essays Archive
Beasts of a Little Land’s Exploration of Survival
Juhea Kim’s debut novel tells about the years of Japanese rule in Korea—years of sometimes brutal oppression, starvation, and resistance—and its demise and aftermath. Through the novel’s omniscient third-person narrator, we see what each of these characters is willing to risk or sacrifice, whether for survival or some other
The Singular Character of Tolstoy’s Alyosha
Tolstoy’s treatment of Alyosha may cross over into objectification, but what makes Alyosha a singular character is the way in which he evades being objectified, something that can only be found when Alyosha’s feelings slip through how his father and master view and treat him.
The Legacy of Forugh Farrokhzad
The central tragedy of Forugh Farrokhzad’s life and career was that she was seen by some not as an agent, but as an adjective—as a reactive vehicle for a literary spirit greater than herself.
Augustine as Literary Companion in Motherhood: A Confession
Imitating the voice, form, and tone of St. Augustine, Natalie Carnes invokes him as interlocutor, honoring his text’s merits while challenging the blind spots inherent in its masculine perspective. In so doing, she enriches our understanding of human nature and the nature of the divine, revealed in the intimacy
Memory and Creativity in Where the Past Begins
While Amy Tan’s fiction has always been informed by the experiences of those around her, her 2017 memoir turns inward, highlighting how much of her creativity stems from the lives that came before her.
Community and Junk Food in Christopher Gonzalez’s I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat
In Gonzalez’s book, we see characters going out to eat with each other, enjoying “junk” food that may be bad for them because it is the food they know, the poison they enjoy. In a world that poisons them daily, enjoying a meal with a friend is the best
Philomath and Lyric Knowledge
Do the people of Devon Walker-Figueroa’s 2020 collection love to learn? Do we watch them learn in change while reading this book, and do we, in the process of reading these poems, learn anything?
The Imagery of the Vernacular in Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward connects her Black characters to climate change, present in the shape of Hurricane Katrina, by using the sound of the storm to explore their lived experience. It is the oral tradition alive on the page.
The Refusal of Boundaries in Etel Adnan’s Surge and Time
Adnan’s rejection of boundaries of time, geography, and standard logic echoes the very nature of two of her works: one written in English, one translated from French, one intentionally written as a collection, one pulled together from many years of disparate writing.
Water, Stars, and Home in Things We Lost to the Water
So many refugees who are separated from their homes by seas and oceans and rivers, gravitate towards water; so many of them look up at the stars and wonder about the stories we don’t know. Reading Eric Nguyen’s novel, I think about how water can both separate you from