Essays

Long-form essays on contemporary fiction and the conditions under which it is written, published, and read — pieces that take a position and follow the argument where it goes rather than where the release schedule directs.

3 articles

Essays

The Difficulty of Translating Krasznahorkai, and What the English Versions Have Made Possible

Krasznahorkai's long sentences have been called untranslatable so often that the cliché has worn smooth. The English versions by George Szirtes and…

Edmund Whitfield May 11, 2026 8 min read

Essays

What Sally Rooney Owes to Henry James (and Doesn't)

The Rooney novels have been compared to nineteenth-century realism more often than not, and the Jamesian comparison has become standard in the…

Edmund Whitfield May 11, 2026 7 min read

Essays

The Failure of Late Style: Reading the Last Roths and What They Tell Us About Endings

Said's argument that late style is characterized by an unresolved, intransigent quality has become so quoted that it now does duty for…

Edmund Whitfield May 11, 2026 7 min read