The second round of the Tournament of Literary Sex Writing, the aptly-named Erotic Eight, has kicked off over at The Literary Hub. This round is home to some downright ridiculous pairings (I’m looking at you, “Bram Stoker vs. James Baldwin as judged by Roxane Gay“) and the judges are as careful and attentive as ever.
Erotic Eight
Elena Ferrante Writing for Kids
Elena Ferrante will be publishing a children’s book, The Beach at Night, this December. Revisit our own Jacob Lambert’s series on whether or not picture books are leading our children astray to prepare for the release.
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Michel Houellebecq on the Art of Fiction
Susannah Hunnewell interviews Michel Houellebecq, France’s controversial literary icon, for The Paris Review’s “The Art of Fiction” series: “There is a need for intensity. From time to time, you have to forsake harmony. You even have to forsake truth. You have to, when you need to, energetically embrace excessive things.”
How to read the New Yorker this summer
Starting today and lasting until the end of the summer, The New Yorker is completely free online, including archives back to 2007. What to read? To start off, try searching the fiction page for, say, George Saunders. There’s that famous Lawrence Wright piece on Scientology. Or feel free to consult the magazine’s own roundup. But I happen to be most impressed by this grandaddy of all longform articles on six survivors of Hiroshima (subscription required).
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Black Lives Matter
Following the recent violence in the U.S., the editors at n+1 offer resources and articles from the archives. You could also read yesterday’s article asking what political writing is or Michael Bourne’s review of Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash.
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More from the DFW Archives
Another deep dive into the Wallace archive, this time courtesy of Open Letters Monthly. Interesting stuff here on Dostoevsky and, er…”balls.”