20th century

Regarding the Pen of Others

by Benjamin Moser,

By Benjamin Moser, from Sontag: Her Life and Work, which will be published by Ecco this month. “In the Freudian conception,” wrote one author, “as it gradually emerged through these…

Then Again

by Jill Ciment,

From The Other Half, a manuscript in progress rebutting the author’s 1996 memoir, Half a Life, which describes her relationship with her husband, whom she met when she was a…

Freedom from Inspiration

by Kevin Baker,

The fight over which of our public monuments should remain where they are is as complicated as the American past they commemorate. For all the fighting over who and what…

Black Lives Televised

by Henry Louis Gates Jr.,

I can remember as a child sitting upstairs in my bedroom and hearing my mother shout at the top of her voice that someone “colored . . . colored!” was on the…

Within the next few years, the Congress of Industrial Organizations Political Action Committee may become the most powerful vote-herding and lobbying organization in the country. It now has prestige, cohesive…

Worlds Apart

by Inger Christensen,

By Inger Christensen, from The Condition of Secrecy. Christensen (1935–2009) was a Danish poet and writer. The book, a collection of essays, will be published in November by New Directions.…

Forget About It

by Corey Robin,

In the uneasy months following 9/11, the Bush Administration provoked a minor controversy when it announced the name of a new office dedicated to protecting the United States from terrorism…

Kiss and Tell

by Marina Tsvetaeva,

From a letter written by Marina Tsvetaeva to Boris Pasternak in 1927. Tsvetaeva (1892–1941) was a poet. The letter was included in the February issue of the PN Review. Translated…

Flowers of Evil

by Michael Pollan,

Last season was a strange one in my garden, notable not only for the unseasonably cool and wet weather — the talk of gardeners all over New England — but…

Nobody Knows

by Rebecca Solnit,

When I was eighteen, I spent several months working as a bus girl at a diner. It was a cheerful-looking place, facing San Francisco Bay. The kitchen was L-shaped: the…

Village People

by Terry Southern,

By Terry Southern (1924–95), from an unpublished manuscript written in 1952. It is included in Making It Hot for Them, a collection of his writings edited by Nile Southern that…

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