Fiction
Browse our essays and reviews on fiction.
The Machines Get in the Way
The work of art—and the work of making art—in an age increasingly hostile to it.
The Ghost of Gabriel García Márquez
On the Nobel Prize–winning writer’s posthumously published novel, Until August.
Archive Fever
László Krasznahorkai’s Spadework for a Palace reflects on the power of the surveillance state through the perspective of a librarian who wishes to lock up all books.
Hilary Mantel, Historian
The celebrated novelist treated the past seriously, depicting its psychological complexity and drawing out its present-day political implications.
Science Fiction as Poetry
In her new book, Danish poet Olga Ravn writes with open love, pity, and compassion for her strange yet familiar creations.
Edith Wharton’s Ghosts
Known mainly as a realist, the writer used the gothic form to explore the horror of being confined by gender.
“Representation doesn’t just mean heroes. We need the villains as well.”
Marlon James discusses writing realistic Black characters, being inspired by African folktales, and why we don’t have to let go of the world of make-believe to tell serious stories.
Simon Stålenhag’s Alternate Histories
Amazon’s Tales from the Loop has introduced a new audience to the speculative worlds of the Swedish artist, whose books depict worlds in which humanity has, in one way or another, run afoul of technology.
Working on Our Primal Scream
Amidst a boys’ club of ’70s-era comics, Shary Flenniken’s Trots and Bonnie was unique for its feminist depiction of the political and sexual awakening of young women.
‘Ancestors’ Contributors Reading
A recording of our digital reading of poetry, fiction, and essays from our annual literary anthology, with ASL interpreting.
Autofiction’s First Boom Was in Turn-of-the-Century Japan
Newly translated into English, Minae Mizumura’s An I-Novel is a vivid portrait of immigrant displacement and the ironies of our global cultural ecosystem.
Celebrating Binyavanga Wainaina’s Fiction
A recording of our discussion about the recovery of one of Wainaina’s lost stories and his continued importance to the African literary landscape.
Binguni!
Celebrated writer Binyavanga Wainaina’s first piece of fiction was thought to be lost. Recently rediscovered, it appears here twenty-five years after it originally debuted.
Petra Kelly and the Radical Green Past
The Greens are on track to become Germany’s second strongest party. Was abandoning radicalism was the right choice?
Writing Our Ancestors
A recording of the launch event for Boston Review’s new literary anthology, Ancestors. Renowned writers read their poems, fiction, and more.
Reading Camus in Time of Plague and Polarization
The French Algerian writer steadfastly defended democracy and humanity against dogmatic ideologies of all stripes.
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