[August 1949]
Art for Art’s Sake
By E. M. Forster

[October 1959]
The Decline of Book Reviewing 
The fates of authors and publishers—not to mention the reading public—depend on book reviews—but who reviews the reviewers?
By Elizabeth Hardwick

[January 1973]
Ripping Off Black Music
From Thomas “Daddy” Rice to Jimi Hendrix.
By Margo Jefferson

[October 1984]
The Tragedy of Tragedy
When will playwrights leave fate to chance?
By Vladimir Nabokov

[April 1996]
Perchance to Dream 
In the age of images, a reason to write novels.
By Jonathan Franzen

[September 2004]
A Form of Incomprehension
The curious phenomenon of Borges.
By Guy Davenport

[October 2005]
Why Experimental Fiction Threatens to Destroy Publishing, Jonathan Franzen, and Life as we Know It 
A correction.
By Ben Marcus

[November 2006]
Hysterical Scientism 
The ecstasy of Richard Dawkins.
By Marilynne Robinson

[August 2006]
Half a Man, Half a Metaphor 
The unknown Kafka.
By William H. Gass

[February 2007]
The Ecstasy of Influence 
A plagiarism.
By Jonathan Lethem

[August 2010]
Cinema Crudité 
The mysterious appeal of the post-camp cult film.
By Tom Bissell

[August 2016]
Don the Realtor
The rise of Trump.
By Martin Amis

[July 2017]
Getting In and Out 
Who owns black pain?
By Zadie Smith

[August 2017]
American Expansion 
The innovations of A. R. Ammons.
By Helen Vendler

[November 2017]
Flesh and Blood
Three close encounters with Sons and Lovers.
By Vivian Gornick

[June 2020]
Always Leave Them Wanting Less
How not to write about Andy Warhol.
By Gary Indiana