The Art of the Beachcomber

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Research isn’t just for acquiring knowledge—it’s creatively generative, too
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On Madness, Motherhood, and ‘King Lear’

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Both children need my attention simultaneously, and like Lear’s kingdom, I’m unsure how to divide it.
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The Literary Lives of Mid-Century Nuns

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It's time we understand why the nuns of this era were drawn to writing and publishing poetry.
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Dentistry and Doubt: On Writing About Teeth

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I await the the first great contribution to dental literature.
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On Writing (and Rewriting) Illness

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We’d read this story before. How could I make it fresh, original, and literary?
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Love Ruins Everything: On Claire Dederer’s ‘Monsters’

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To defend or disavow? The choice is yours, and it feels good to have a choice.
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Nora and the Jews

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Nora Ephron was Jewish but glamorous. Jewish and glamorous. Glamorous, in part, because she was Jewish.
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The Haunted Writing Life of John Polidori

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Polidori is simultaneously unknown but influential, a failure but also the progenitor of an enduring literary trope: the vampire.
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On AI and the Intrinsic Value of Writing

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At last, we can unshackle ourselves from the chore of writing toward extrinsic benefit.
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To All the Novels I Never Published

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Any given piece of writing must be categorized: the ones you keep, and the ones you share.
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The Casual Villainy of Greek Heroes

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Ancient heroism was not measured in good deeds and moral excellence.
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The Novels Behind This Year’s Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar Noms

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Three of this year's contenders are literary adaptions. How do they hold up to their source material? And which will win?
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