Tao Lin interviews Leaving the Atocha Station author Ben Lerner for The Believer. You can also check out an excerpt from Lerner’s book here.
Tao Lin Interviews Ben Lerner
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Why Criticism Matters
“We live in the age of opinion — offered instantly, effusively and in increasingly strident tones. Much of it goes by the name of criticism, and in the most superficial sense this is accurate.” The New York Times approached six accomplished critics, Stephen Burns, Katie Roiphe, Pankaj Mishra, Adam Kirsch, Sam Anderson, and Elif Batuman to explain, in the spirit of Alfred Kazin, “what it is they do, why they do it and why it matters.”
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“Mookie Blaylock dresses up as Mookie Blaylock for Halloween.”
What better way to celebrate the Super Bowl than by reading a poem about basketball?
Making Connections
Books by Friends, a semi-regular feature at The Atlantic, sees writer James Fallows recommend the works of authors he knows. This week, he praises a book on the history of flight, a prediction for the economy and a jeremiad on American politics by Gary Hart. You could also read our own Kevin Hartnett on Fallows and American decline.
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Literary Lost
As Lost meanders towards its finale, the LA Times rounds up the plentiful literary influences that popped up during the show’s run.
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Women’s Artistic Genius
Over at Public Books, Katie Fitzpatrick writes that Dana Spiotta’s Innocents and Others is a novel on women’s artistic genius. Pair with Jason Arthur’s review of the novel.
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