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features

Basking in Hell: Returning to William H. Gass’s The Tunnel

William H. Gass’s 650-page novel The Tunnel is one of the most complex, challenging books published in English in the 1990s. Stephen Schenkenberg investigates two valuable offerings from the Dalkey Archive Press helping us understand this disagreeable and stunning novel. [more]

Essay by Stephen Schenkenberg

New Cliches: How Mulligan Stew Uses Old Lines to Slam Pretentious Authors

Mulligan Stew, considered by many to be Sorrentino’s greatest novel, is also probably the one in which his anger most powerfully dictates content. Yet, argues Scott Esposito, it’s not a rant, or a mere satire, but a literary masterpiece. [more]

Essay by Scott Esposito

World Cinema: The Independent Spirit of the Toronto International Film Festival

If the space for innovative cinema has shrunk over the course of two decades, unconquered territories still remain, perhaps even thrive, in the early 21st century. M.S. Smith discovers some of them at the Toronto International Film Festival. [more]

Essay by M.S. Smith

The Value of Religious Diversity

Is it correct to accept religion and science as squaring off across a red-blue scrimmage line? J.C. Hallman argues for a more inclusive view of each. [more]

Essay by J.C. Hallman

Howdy Neighbor

John Updike is my neighbor. I have not talked to John Updike. He seems rather vaguely pissed off at me. [more]

Essay by Barrett Hathcock

What is Appropriate: Teaching Invitation to a Beheading, Reading Lolita in Tehran, and Others to High Schoolers

Is it right to teach 12th-graders a book that involves blow jobs? Where should the line be drawn, and who should draw it? Teachers? Administrators? Matthew Cheney delves into his time as a teacher to find an answer as to what is appropriate. [more]

Essay by Matthew Cheney

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