While struggling with this question as a church songwriter, I came up with six guidelines.
language
Can you like Dostoevsky?
Philosopher and linguist Julia Kristeva asks but does not answer this question about the Russian novelist’s complex work.
As it tells the story of our time, the Century makes readers and writers of us all.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book crosses boundaries
It doesn’t matter what genre Translating Myself and Others is. What matters is that it is irresistibly immersive.
Lauren Groff builds a proto-feminist medieval world
But the enchantment of Matrix is ultimately broken by her language.
When she gave me words, she gave me God.
After the resurrection, the disciples’ words failed too.
Sacred impulse, poetic form
For Sofia Starnes, poetry is the language of faith.
Some buzzwords that are due for a sabbatical
Zadie Smith leaves no cultural stone unturned
Smith's collection of essays considers the self as an improvised response to language and the world.
You cannot bear witness with a single word like genocide. Yet Night describes exactly what happened to me.
The Jesuits didn't impose a European language on the Guaraní people; they actively cultivated the indigenous one.
Laurent Binet's latest novel is at once a lecture, a detective story, and an exploration of the limits of fiction.
Dreaming in Israel
In Aharon Appelfeld's novel, a teenage Holocaust survivor sleeps, remembers, and learns to speak anew.
John Simpson's new memoir is about words. More significantly, it’s about our relationship to them.