Criticism

Grieving DFW

Karen Green's Bough Down.

  • Nicole Rudick

Prairies of Air

Brian Teare's Companion Grasses.

  • Christopher J. Adamson

Microreview: Hillary Gravendyk, Harm

Poetry and physical pain.

  • Julie Kantor

Microreview: Calvin Bedient, The Multiple

One of the most exciting and volatile poets of our time.

  • Daniel Tiffany

Imperial Methods

Peter Matthiessen’s Orientalism.

  • Joel Whitney

Living the Dream

Arnaud Desplechin's Jimmy P.

  • Alan A. Stone

Sign up for our newsletter

Microreview: Emily Pettit, Goat in the Snow

A radiant debut.

  • Sasha Fletcher

Nearly Baroque

Nearly Baroque poets want art that puts excess, invention, and ornament first.

  • Stephanie Burt

Microreview: Lucy Ives, Orange Roses

A poetic coming-of-age narrative.

  • Katy Lederer

Hilton Als’s Lonely Black Man

What happens when identity returns to crumble our defenses.

  • Tobi Haslett

A World in Flames

Brenda Hillman's Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire

  • Dana Levin

Microreview: Sarah Vap, End of the Sentimental Journey

A mystery poem.

  • Clare Emily Clifford

Herta Müller’s Language of Resistance

Totalitarianism’s linguistic aggression.

  • Costica Bradatan

The Big Dig

Steven Moore's The Novel: An Alternative History (1600-1800)

  • Roger Boylan

Microreview: Eleni Sikelianos, The Loving Detail of the Living & the Dead

Collage poetics, scientific idiom, and exploration of the poem as essay.

  • Carol Moldaw

Tiger Couple Gets It Wrong on Immigrant Success

High-earning immigrants often come from highly educated or affluent families to begin with.

  • Stephen Steinberg

Microreview: Lyn Hejinian, My Life and My Life in the Nineties

Experiencing a classic anew.

  • Tim Wood

Loser

Joel and Ethan Coen's Inside Llewyn Davis.

  • Alan A. Stone

Microreview: Adam Fitzgerald, The Late Parade

A rowdy, erudite debut collection.

  • Julian B. Gewirtz

Microreview: Amy King, I Want to Make You Safe

Poems on personal and political insecurity.

  • Tim Wood

Microreview: Martha Ronk, Transfer of Qualities

Part museum study, part lyric essay.

  • Benjamin Landry

Lyric Backlash

Thoughts on the Oulipo and César Vallejo in response to Calvin Bedient.

  • Rachel Galvin

Flarf is Life: The Poetry of Affect

In response to Calvin Bedient.

  • Drew Gardner

Turbulence

Ed Skoog's Rough Day

  • Broc Rossell
trending_flat
Get our newsletter

Vital reading on politics, ideas, and culture to your inbox

A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975

Registered 501(c)(3) organization

Help Us Stay Paywall-Free

Donate

Become a Member

Subscribe