'As a nov­elist, though, I was preoccupied with turning a narrative form into a non-narrative one, because the non-narrative mode had become, for me, the one way of accessing reality.'

Amit Chaudhuri on the limits of conventional writing: yalereview.org/article/amit-c…

Can literary critics master detail without losing sight of the world? Ankhi Mukherjee finds answers in Jonathan Kramnick's book CRITICISM AND TRUTH. yalereview.org/article/ankhi-…

“Like the rhapsode, the literary critic lets the artist speak through her,” writes Elaine Scarry. yalereview.org/article/elaine…

'The Rolodex has largely vanished as a measure of social capital in the literary world,' writes Benjamin Anastas, but in Jean Stein's day, it 'was something akin to the Promised Land.' Read about the legendary editor's social record-keeping: yalereview.org/article/benjam…

“To offer myself as servant to the Lord
of bureaucrats I spring to sacred task:
dismantle the vests and boats of refugees.”

-- Esther Lin, 'Homeland Security Agent”: yalereview.org/article/esther…

In a response to Jonathan Kramnick's book CRITICISM AND TRUTH, Paul Saint-Amour argues that the writing of criticism is more than just a writing-up of preformed insights: 'until we begin writing, we have not yet begun to close read.' yalereview.org/article/paul-s…

In his book CRITICISM AND TRUTH, Jonathan Kramnick argues that criticism is a craft like weaving or woodworking. New on TYR, read three responses to the book from fellow critics, and a final response from Kramnick himself: yalereview.org/criticism-and-…

“I try to tell my mother goodbye
just in case.”

Read “The Lamps” by Hua Xi, a new poem in our summer issue: yalereview.org/article/hua-xi…

'What could follow it? The volume itself, a testament between two covers, must have been intimidating to the poet. Something to be proud of, but also an intimation of mortality, and perhaps an omen of decline.'

Teju Cole on Louise Glück’s last books: yalereview.org/article/teju-c…

“Pink clouds stop
Fielding the ambitions

Dawn imposed on them.”

From “Continuo” by Geoffrey G. O’Brien in our summer issue: yalereview.org/article/geoffr…

New today on TYR: a round table on Jonathan Kramnick's CRITICISM AND TRUTH. What does it mean to 'close read'? Does literary studies have a future? Read the responses here: yalereview.org/criticism-and-…

'Giulietta entered the party as if dressed in layers
of silk & frost drawing every eye in the room to her'

-- David St. John, 'Giulietta in Trastevere': yalereview.org/article/david-…

Criticism isn’t just about clarity. Brian Dillon on the strange encounter between a critic and a work of art. yalereview.org/article/brian-…

'Close reading isn't exactly reading,' Jonathan Kramnick argues, but rather a 'process of making something from the world in the act of having something to say about it.' Kramnick answers three responses to his new book CRITICISM AND TRUTH. yalereview.org/article/jonath…

In a new folio, Ankhi Mukherjee, Paul Saint-Amour, and Elaine Scarry respond to Jonathan Kramnick's recent book CRITICISM AND TRUTH. yalereview.org/criticism-and-…

'It is as though the viewer is peering into some half-enclosed, semiprivate place, like a mousehole or a burrow.'

Rachel Eisendrath on a Rembrandt etching: yalereview.org/article/eisend…

Jonathan Kramnick's new book views the critic as a craftsman. Elaine Scarry suggests that the work of criticism is more akin to Ancient Greek rhapsody. yalereview.org/article/elaine…

Criticism summer continues at TYR with Elaine Scarry, Paul Saint-Amour, Ankhi Mukherjee, and Jonathan Kramnick: yalereview.org/criticism-and-…

'Several times a week, the postal carrier delivers packages of books—some that I requested, some that I didn’t know I wanted, and some that I won’t ever want.'

Christine Smallwood on life as a contemporary critic: yalereview.org/article/christ…

Recent debates about method in literary studies have not been about method at all, argues Ankhi Mukherjee. Jonathan Kramnick's CRITICISM AND TRUTH returns us to the actual practices of working critics, she writes, in a response to Kramnick’s book: yalereview.org/article/ankhi-…