Gunn lived much of his life by the principle of free love: a deliberate transcendence of socially prescribed coupling practices.

Gorey’s illustrations give off a sense of hopelessness and terror. Very often they perfectly match and heighten scenes from the novels.

The vows columns might note that 'The Believer' and Las Vegas share a certain weirdness. A wedding toast might say that bringing indie culture to the ultimate resort town is a great McSweeneyian adventure. I’m excited for it because Las Vegas is always troubled, always relevant, and so an ideal place for the literati to set-up a magazine bureau.

Zambreno casts her mother as lead, mysterious beauty, with cigarette, Coach purse, floppy hat. If she’s present here in literature, it seems there is the potential of moving on.

In the eyes of most literary circles, Dostoevsky was just a one-hit wonder.

Fitzgerald found a way for his death to give Tycoon, a necessarily fragmented tale of loss, a more moving outcome than anything he might dream up.

Gertrude Stein’s writing isn’t, on the face of it, a style we’d traditionally encourage in college. But why? Doesn’t it uphold the tenacious inquiry we ask of collegial adults? Doesn’t it allow for play and interest? Doesn’t it make claims?

I resist marriage, not because I detest the prospect of a devoted relationship (or the lavish wedding party), but because I’m uncertain of my own place in it, suffering from what Harold Bloom dubbed, “the anxiety of influence.” How does one escape the ills of heritage without leaving it behind entirely?

Tartan is the pattern on shortbread tins, or the hairy friendly blanket my dog sleeps on. There’s a something of a disconnect between the warmth of Tartan and the broken-glass cold of noir -- and that makes the term work.

What follows is a literary sampling inspired by Pesach: eight books for the eight nights of the holiday, choices that amplify Passover themes and honor writing itself.

Trump is a product of a society that has been groomed, through the popularity of reality television, to reward people whose sole motivation is to rock the boat, even at the detriment of those who can’t swim.

Language flexes and adapts. It knows it will be both mangled and elevated, depending on who wields it -- quite often by the same person.

At his most powerful, the Sad Flâneur lays bare the relationship between capitalism and depression.