The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick is a companion collection to The Collected Essays, a book that proved a revelation of what, for many, had been an open secret: that Elizabeth Hardwick was one of the great American literary critics, and an extraordinary stylist in her own right. The thirty-five pieces that Alex Andriesse has gathered here—none previously featured in volumes of Hardwick’s work—make it clear that her powers extended far beyond literary criticism, encompassing a vast range of subjects, from New York City to Faye Dunaway, from Wagner’s Parsifal to Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions, and from the pleasures of summertime to grits soufflé. In these often surprising, always well-wrought essays, we see Hardwick’s passion for people and places, her politics, her thoughts on feminism, and her ability, especially from the 1970s on, to write well about seemingly anything.
An issue of The Review of Contemporary Fiction dedicated to the Italian writer and publisher Roberto Calasso, including Calasso's meditation on Kafka and cinema; essays by Joseph Brodsky, Wendy Doniger, John Banville, Charles Simic, and Edwin Frank; as well as previously untranslated essays by Italo Calvino, Francisco Rico, Pietro Citati, Charles Malamud, and Jorge Heralde.
This issue collects new work on and by the American novelist Kathryn Davis, the French Christine Montalbetti, and the Swiss Markus Werner. An excerpt from Davis's The Silk Road and her graceful essay on transitions, mortality, and Beethoven's late quartets are followed by appreciations of her novels by Christine Schutt, Michelle Latiolais, Greg Hrbek, Kate Bernheimer, and Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, among others. The Montalbetti section—guest edited by Professor Warren Motte—features essays by Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Xabi Molia, and Denis Podalydès. And the Werner section includes pieces by Gwendolyn Riley, Sarah Trudgeon, Jen Calleja, and Michael Hofmann, who also serves as the translator of a rare autobiographical text by Werner himself.
"Now in its ninth year, this dependable anthology of short stories from the always innovative Dalkey Archive Press provides a handy vade mecum for a journey through European fiction. The thirty pieces here, thoughtfully selected, and powerfully (and sometimes humorously) juxtaposed by the editor Alex Andriesse, unavoidably take into account the political convulsions initiated by the Brexit vote and the resurgence of sundry European nationalisms." —Jude Cook, Times Literary Supplement
An anthology featuring writing by Alberto Olmos (trans. Eric Kurtzke), Lina Wolff (trans. Saskia Vogel), Patrik Ourednik (trans. Alexander Hertich), Christos Ikonomou (trans. Karen Emmerich), Helena Janaczek (trans. Frederika Randall), and much else besides.