君子不器
Marcus vs. Franzen: the latest “difficult books” essay in Harper’s… By Jess Row Not long ago, not even a generation ago, there existed a rough consensus in certain parts of the literary world that the novel was dying, or dead, and that something else—metafiction? The nouveau roman? The New Journalism?—was about to take its place.
Modern China is So Crazy It Needs a New Literary Genre The first thing I should do, of course, is explain what I mean by “chaohuan,” which we are rendering in English as “ultra-unreal.” The literal meaning of “chaohuan” is “surpassing the unreal” or “surpassing the imaginary.” It is a word that a friend and…
It started with bedtime. A coldness. A formality. Martin and Rachel tucked the boy in, as was their habit, then stooped to kiss him good night. “Please don’t do that,” he said, turning to face the wall. They took it as teasing, flopped onto his bed to nuzzle and tickle him. The boy turned rigid,…