The Paris Review1 day agoSee Everything: On Joseph Mitchell’s ObjectsThe Paris Review - Scott SchomburgA black-and-white photograph, three and a half by five inches, shows a figure in profile—a silhouette in suit and hat, alone on a giant heap of demolished buildings far above the cathedral tower of the Brooklyn Bridge. I found it in a stack of photos stored inside a small envelope with a …
The Paris Review2 days agoWith Melville in PittsfieldThe Paris Review - J. D. DanielsThe fictional Pittsfield, Massachusetts, native Mack Bolan first appeared in Don Pendleton’s 1969 novel The Executioner #1: War Against the Mafia. A self-righteous vigilante (“I am not their judge. I am their judgment”), the by-now-lesser-known Bolan was the inspiration for the popular Marvel …
The Paris Review3 days agoA Conversation with Louise ErdrichThe Paris Review - Sterling HolyWhiteMountainThe Paris Review’s Writers at Work interview series has been a hallmark of the magazine since its founding in 1953. These interviews, often conducted over months and sometimes even years, aim to provide insight into how each subject came to be the writer they are, and how the work gets done, and …
The Paris Review6 days agoLooking for Lorca in New YorkThe Paris Review - Zain KhalidFor a son of the titular city, reading Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York is akin to curling into your lover, your nose dipped in the well of their collarbone, as they detail your mother’s various personality disorders. Yes, Federico, yes, my mother is thoroughly racist and takes every …
The Paris ReviewMar 22A Well-Contained LifeThe Paris Review - Isabelle ReaWhat can’t be contained? Not much. We are given the resources, mental or physical, to contain our emotions and our belongings. Failing to do so often registers as weakness. The smallest container you can buy at the Container Store is a rectangular crystal-clear plastic box available in orange, …
The Paris ReviewThe Disenchantment of the WorldThe Paris Review - Byung-Chul HanThe children’s author Paul Maar tells the story of a boy who cannot tell stories. When his little sister, Susanne, is struggling to fall asleep, tossing and turning in her bed, she asks Konrad to tell her a story. He declines in a huff. Konrad’s parents, by contrast, love telling stories. They are …