The shock of Edna O’Brien
I had my first sight of Edna O’Brien on the stage of the Gate Theater in Dublin in the mid-Sixties. Censorship of books, plays and films was still vigorously applied…
The Japanese crime wave sweeping Britain
Thirty years ago, if you asked someone British to name their favorite Japanese author, most people would say Haruki Murakami. One of Japan’s best-known postwar novelists, he has been divisive…
A novelist’s dark portrait of Natalie Portman
The actor Natalie Portman has long seemed more like a person who wants to brand herself as smart than like a person who is actually smart — and her decision…
A Left case for the Great Books
We don’t get to choose our fans. Naomi Kanakia, for example, probably doesn’t want me — a religious-minded, gender-critical writer — to review her book, What’s So Great About the…
Invasion of the literary bots
Jamir Nazir, Sharon Aruparayil, John Edward DeMicoli, and Holly Ann Miller are all heroes. Don’t misunderstand me too quickly. Read more The futility of retiree protests On May 15, the…