In Memoriam

Vigilantly Himself: Artists on Philip Roth’s Legacy

-
Philip has one of the strongest voices of any novelist alive, effortless and apparently unhesitating, yet the page was black with tiny corrections. “Who’s going to notice the difference?” I asked. “You are,” he answered. “I am.”
-
● ● ●
In Memoriam

Philip Roth, 1933-2018

- | 1
● ●
In Memoriam

The Man in the White Suit: Remembering Tom Wolfe

-
I looked in his eyes and saw the haunted, hunted animal look I know I have in my eyes when the shit is hitting the fan. And I thought to myself, “God bless you, Tom. You’re a working stiff after all.”
-
● ● ●
In Memoriam

The Utopias of Ursula K. Le Guin

- | 1
By avoiding a linear narrative in Always Coming Home, Le Guin escapes the trap inherent in all would-be subversive texts: the use of language, which is controlled by patriarchy.
- | 1
● ● ●
In Memoriam

Those Who Left Us: Select Literary Obituaries of 2017

- | 2
Poets, editors, songwriters, teachers, journalists, novelists—some great writers and some under-sung ones left us this year. Here is a selective compendium of literary obituaries from 2017.
- | 2
● ● ●
In Memoriam

Those Who Left Us: Select Literary Obituaries from 2016

- | 4
This year we lost a Nobel laureate, several Pulitzer Prize winners, many writers with wide readerships, and many more who never achieved the acclaim or the audiences they deserved. 
- | 4
● ● ●
In Memoriam Sport

What Is It About Baseball? W.P. Kinsella, José Fernández, and the Dust of the 2016 Season

-
Baseball can do that, I guess.  It can remind you of everything that once mattered to you, everything that matters still.  It can brush the great promise of tomorrow against the agreeable sting of the past, and the sorrows of today.
-
● ● ●
In Memoriam

What Jim Harrison Taught Me About Marriage

- | 10
I could be my own woman, with no husband, no lover, no hovering possible partners: just me. I could rent my own house on the creek and become a hermitess of sorts, mend my mostly self-inflicted wounds until they closed, work hard to revise the novel I had drafted during easier days.
- | 10
● ● ●
Essays In Memoriam

Anita Brookner, Queen of the Damned

- | 1
Like any good vampire, Brookner feeds on her literary antecedents.
- | 1
● ● ●
In Memoriam

A Walking Coulda-Been: Remembering Buddy Cianci

- | 2
Jimmy Breslin might have had Buddy Cianci in mind when he said, “Providence is where the best thieves come from.”
- | 2
● ● ●
In Memoriam

R.I.P: Select Literary Obituaries from 2015

- | 8
Rest in Peace. Through your words you will all live on.
- | 8
● ● ●
In Memoriam

The Color of Loss: On the Passing of Sir Terry Pratchett

-
To classify Pratchett is to deny his genius. Just because a book takes place in another world -- one with wizards and witches and trolls and dwarfs -- doesn’t mean it can’t also provide insight into our own.
-
● ● ●
In Memoriam

My Neighbor, the Poet Laureate

- | 1
When I read over the weekend that Levine had died, at age 87, I thought of that rainy September afternoon in Brooklyn.
- | 1
● ● ●
In Memoriam

Those Who Left Us: Select Literary Obituaries from 2014

- | 2
Once again last year we lost great talents from every precinct of the literary world. Here is a selective compendium of the how a few of them lived, when they died, and the books they left behind.
- | 2
● ● ●
In Memoriam

Barry Hannah and I

- | 13
My phone rang into this atmosphere of despondency and a voice, friendly and southern, asked for me. Barry introduced himself. “I wanted to call and say you wrote an honest book.”
- | 13
● ● ●
In Memoriam

Communicating Her Truth: Remembering Maya Angelou

-
As well as showing us pain that in fiction would be unbearable, by having the courage to write memoir, Angelou also shared hope that in fiction would be implausible.
-
● ● ●
In Memoriam

Ten Who Left Us: Select Literary Obituaries from 2013

- | 6
We lost great talents from every precinct of the literary world last year. Here is a highly selective compendium of the how they lived, when they died, and the books they left behind
- | 6
● ● ●
In Memoriam Torch Ballads & Jukebox Music

Lou Reed, Sonic Contrarian

- | 22
Most of the personal tributes I’ve seen don’t just talk about how great a musician Lou Reed was but how his fine, fine music literally changed their lives.
- | 22
● ● ●