america

In The American Epic Novel, Gilbert Adair presents a "State-of-the-Empire address" that interrogates the epical form in a time where authors no longer talk of writing "The Great American Novel." As Joseph Tabbi finds, such an exploration goes beyond expanding the canon and presents "a new, compelling context for 'the literary' itself."

Joseph Tabbi reviews the essay collection Simulacrum America.

Walton Muyumba reviews Randall Kenan's massive meditation on race and introduces a new word into the discourse on African American literature: zugenruhe.

Chris Messenger achieves a rare convergence of elite and popular cultural criticism by doing for The Godfather (and its spinoffs) what previous critics have done for Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Chris Messenger reviews Tom LeClair's first novel, Passing Off (1996).