The American Vicarious by Jonathan Lethem On Nathanael West’s superb relevance to the ongoing future of American literature.
Close Encounters of the Metafictional Kind by Garrett McDonough Tough lessons in life and literature learned from Bret Easton Ellis’s appearance at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square.
FULL TEXT Analects on the Influence of Artaud by Rick Moody Must one be willing to become mentally ill in the name of art?
Doomed Sitters by Rozalia Jovanovic How did the wing chair become such a reliable symbol for power, depravity, and corruption?
The Chapel on the Moon by Michael Schulman In 1967, the planners of a lunar church gave Johannes Somary 500 dollars and told him to compose “something to do with the heavens.”
FULL TEXT Gary Panter interviewed by David Jacob Kramer A tour of the artist’s output, from the sets on
Pee-wee’s Playhouse to graphic novels, light shows, and paintings of mutant cacti.
Andrea Barrett interviewed by Ben George A conversation with a writer whose fiction covers nineteenth-century mapmaking, epidemiology, and the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Christian Bök interviewed by Jonathan Ball “Language is like a weed that cannot only endure but also thrive under difficult conditions.”
Will Self in correspondence with Geoff Nicholson An exchange between two brilliant, raffish British novelists who are obsessed with the cultural and psychological importance of walking.
Charles Simic micro-interviewed by Joel Rice 
