The LiveJournal of Zachary Marsh
An awfully different young man graduates from high school and quickly learns more than he bargained about snack foods, ducks, and a secret family history.
literature
A collection of 229 issues
Is Illiteracy So Bad?
When people can’t explain global warming or mad cow disease, perhaps they should look at a less than obvious scourge: the dreaded literacy plague.
The Pop-Off King
Though dancers occasionally kick one another, writers are alone among artists in using their craft to attack each other. A report on Stephen King's new decision to join the vipers.
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
Psychoanalysis in literature is old hat, but there were days when it was new. Returning to Mary McCarthy to see which neuroses still ring true.
Among the "Unsavvy"
Being published in the New Yorker has long been a fantasy for many writers, and the magazine's recent change in the fiction chair appeared to offer more hope for the underpublished. Appearances, however, can be deceitful.
Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” Revisited
In the first installment of a new series of re-readings, we dust off our dog-eared copy of Metamorphosis and see it in a decidedly different light.
Surrey With the Syringe on Top
In the cutthroat world of playwriting, where a good line means the difference between fame and famine, many authors fall victim to the lure of performance-enhancing drugs.
Looking for LeRoy
New York's fashionably-lit are always looking for the next hot thing in plastic glasses. With the days of Dave Eggers now frozen, and Franzen quickly fading, could writer J.T. LeRoy be it?
The First Rule of Book Club
Chicago versus New York: sure, we know whose pizza is better, but what about their city-wide book reading programs? A stern lecture about our relative civic hopes, fears, and lazy habits.