The Prophet of Dystopia at Rest: Margaret Atwood in Cuba Canada has never supported the US embargo, and the countries’ good relations are for many Canadians a symbol of our independence. Yvon Grenier 2 Jul 2021 · 13 min read
The Purpose of Imaginative Fiction “What’s it about?” is usually the first question we ask when someone recommends a new book, and it’s the wrong question. Elena Shalneva 27 Apr 2020 · 9 min read
Against Literalism—'The Satanic Verses' Fatwa at 30 The intermingling of elements—culture, language, religion—is celebrated, while the concept of purity in identity and culture is repudiated as too constricting. Daniel James Sharp 9 Aug 2019 · 9 min read
Tolkien—A Review The real-life Tolkien, who loathed trite allegory, would have cringed. Charlotte Allen 24 May 2019 · 7 min read
The Case for Nabokov An even moderately careful reading of Lolita should make it quite clear that it’s anything but a “celebration” of child rape. Cathy Young 6 May 2019 · 12 min read
The Narcissistic Fracturing of LGBT Literature The world of the left generally, and of LGBT identity politics specifically, wasn’t always focused on infinite fragmentation within sects. Nick Comilla 25 Feb 2019 · 9 min read
Why Do People Tell Me I’m Not Allowed to Write? The issue was that when a white playwright’s work was produced, casting directors were assuming that they should cast white actors. We were all aghast. Libby Emmons 1 Feb 2019 · 9 min read
Are the Classics Complicit in White Supremacy? No reason to believe that classics as a field has had any particular tendency towards white supremacism either in the present or in the past. James Kierstead 29 Jan 2019 · 9 min read
Is Western Civilization Uniquely Bad? If we are looking for a civilization that never engaged in mass violence or destruction, we’re unlikely to find one. James Kierstead 15 Jan 2019 · 8 min read
Enlightenment Wars: Some Reflections on 'Enlightenment Now,' One Year Later As Thomas Paine wrote, “To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Steven Pinker 14 Jan 2019 · 52 min read
Correcting ‘Youth’s Eternal Temptation to Arrogance’—One Bedtime Story at a Time Children get a wider perspective when they’re tugged out of the here and now for a little while each day. In an enchanted hour, we can read them stories of the real and imagined past. Meghan Cox Gurdon 13 Jan 2019 · 9 min read
Is Western Civilization a Thing? Appiah is wrong to pretend that distinct civilizations were never a thing. James Kierstead 11 Jan 2019 · 8 min read
The Posthumous #MeToo-ing of J. D. Salinger Salinger has been posthumously relegated to the limbo of #MeToo-tainted, “problematic” cultural figures, which probably accounts for the awkward half-silence around his centenary. Cathy Young 9 Jan 2019 · 11 min read
The Novel Isn’t Dead—Please Stop Writing Eulogies I refuse to be discouraged by the sort of novel-gone-to-the-dogs pessimism that has been around for generations. Gabriel Scorgie 13 Nov 2018 · 8 min read