Critical Essays Archive
Mary Jo Bang’s Modern Inferno
Mary Jo Bang’s raucous translation of Inferno, published in 2013, tries to bring us as close as she can to the intrigue of Florence in the 14th century.
Repeat After Me
Anaphora reiterates the musicality of language, pushing it beyond its status as a collection of signifiers and demands that we hear, not just understand, the poem.
Real-Life Character Development, Or the Challenge Of David Rutschman’s Into Terrible Light
Beyond being engaging or complex characters, the emperors, donkeys, roosters, and everyday humans in David Rutschman’s Into Terrible Light charge readers to acknowledge the tender and fearful aspects of being the ruling animal.
Mary Chudleigh and Roy Moore
One of the more perplexing stories arising from the accusations against Roy Moore is that some members of Christian fundamentalist communities have argued that it’s entirely appropriate for older men like Moore to date and marry 14-16 year old girls.
Solving the Mystery of Close Quarters: Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express
In Murder on the Orient Express we are told that in the dead of winter nobody travels from Istanbul to Calais on the Orient Express. So, what better time to plot the elaborate murder of a supremely evil American businessman known to be traveling on that train.
Writers Watch Uneasy Advance of Tax Reform Bills
The House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are considering tax reform bills that, if passed, could affect writers and literary nonprofits across the country.
A World in Brief
World-building is an oft discussed topic for fictional works of the fantasy and science fiction types. Was enough world-building done? Did the setting come alive? Did we believe in the stakes of the world and the way that characters inhabited it?
The Privilege of Interpretation
The history of US intervention in Central America is long and shameful, and the government has attempted to conceal the death and suffering it has caused in the region. Deborah Eisenberg and Albert Goldbarth use stories of Americans in Central America to explore how stories are manipulated.
Our Lady of Intercession
It’s one thing to effect permeable borders, quite another to insist on violable bodies to constitute the border’s apertures.
Making a Masterpiece: What Writers Can Learn from Iconic Imagery in Visual Art
You can learn about writing by studying the masterpieces in art because every masterpiece, whether it’s a piece of music or literature or visual art, has essentially the same ingredients.