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Vice and virtue clash daily round the world, and while the definition of sin may vary, its literary allure is universal. Perhaps that’s because no matter how easy we think moral failings are to finger, in actuality their elusiveness on the page is what makes for the stuff of great literature. “It’s so easy to forget . . . ” says a former student of an envious teacher; yet do moral failings arise because it’s easy to forget, or because it’s even easier to harbor and remember? Maya Arad, Roberto Bolaño, Lars Saabye Christensen, Doris Kareva, Danilo Kiš, Mathieu Lindon, Sérgio Rodrigues, Kjell Westo, and Yan Lianke put envy, greed, pride, sloth, gluttony, anger, and lust to thought-provoking ends for the New Year.
The Many Masks of Max Mirebelais
Roberto Bolaño's Nazi Literature in the Americas presents itself as a biographical dictionary of American writers who flirted with or espoused extreme right-wing ideologies in the
from “Serve the People!”
The novel is the only place for a great many of life's truths. Because it is only in fiction that certain facts can be held up to the light. The novel it is, then, for this particular
The Man Who Killed the Writer
First things first: I didn't write the book everyone thinks I wrote, the one that has been showering me with fame and riches since its publication, just over one year go. Although many
The Pig
Asbjørn Hall was admitted to an Oslo hospital on December 4th, 2003, for an intestinal operation, a rather unpleasant business no one would look forward to. But Asbjørn Hall
The Robot
No one was surprised by his arrival. There was nothing miraculous about seeing a robot walk in through the door, choose a table, push away chairs, and study the menu. He did all of it as
from “Seven Moral Failings”
Now was the time to ask for a recommendation from David. In fact, he had already intended to raise the subject at their morning meeting, but then that student had appeared, whose name, he
bilingual
The Referee
Fernström would remember later that he had been thinking back to his own playing career while driving through the city that morning. He had felt restless all autumn, but without
The Trial of Jean-Marie Le Pen
By the time it starts the Blistier trial has already been known for months as "the trial of Jean-Marie Le Pen." Civil rights groups were the first to call it that, but by now the phrase,
“Idleness Is Often Empowering . . . ”
Idleness is often empowering, recreating oneself— just as the moon gradually grows full once again, a battery surely and steadily recharges, so everything, everyone must have