“It’s a strange thing but writers can only write what they want to write. I used to be a commissioning editor and I remember wishing that I could point authors towards a particular genre or subject. ‘Books about librarians in Sheffield are popular this year, can you write me a couple?’ But, of course, this […]
Elly Griffiths on Writing Read More »
Monsters, villains, and antiheroes are largely just like us—with one key difference. They have the power to fulfill self-interests because they live beyond the dictates of morality. They care little for how their actions affect others, so nothing is forbidden. For them, it’s not a matter of “Should I do this?” but “Can I do
“Monsters, villains, and antiheroes are largely just like us” Read More »
Commentary on one of my all-time favorite Big Books: The Blind Assassin (2000) is a multilayered and deftly plotted work of autobiographical and historical fiction set in 20th-century Canada. In just the first few pages, layers of family history and mystery unfurl by way of a trifecta of memoir flashback, newspaper clippings and novel-within-a-novel narratives.
On Margaret Atwood’s “The Blind Assassin” Read More »
Detective novels are, for me, a sort of literary comfort food; a respite from real life — in which problems aren’t always neatly wrapped up — and a chance to walk in the sensibly shod footsteps of a crime-solver . . . , analyzing clues and side-eyeing witnesses and, ultimately, making the world a tiny
A New Newspaper Column on Crime Books Read More »
There is one form of power that has fascinated me ever since I was a girl, even though it has been widely colonized by men: the power of storytelling. Telling stories really is a kind of power, and not an insignificant one. Stories give shape to experience, sometimes by accommodating traditional literary forms, sometimes by
Quotation: Elena Ferrante: Storytelling as Power Read More »
“She took things too seriously. She was difficult and unyielding. That’s why Susan Sontag’s work matters so much even now.” This is how I see her monstrosity: residing not in whether she was or was not likeable, but in her relentlessness, and her refusal to pander. The word ‘monster’ comes from the Latin monere, to
Quotation: Susan Sontag Was a Monster Read More »
