literature - Quillette (Page 3)

There's (a Lot) More to George Orwell than Nineteen Eighty-Four

Orwell represents one of those strange cases where a writer’s reputation predominantly rests, if not on his worst, then certainly his least typical book.

Herman Goodden

27 Aug 2021 · 10 min read

Twilight of the Satyrs

I. On April 18th of this year, Blake Bailey, 58, the author of Philip Roth: The Biography, was abruptly dropped by his literary agency, the Story Company. His book had been published on April 6th, and climbed to the top of the bestseller lists. But then allegations emerged that while

Charlotte Allen

11 Aug 2021 · 28 min read

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 · 13 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 · 10 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 · 10 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 · 9 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 · 12 min read