The death of the British Catholic novel
Catholicism gave English literature something it needs to rediscover.
ByLiterature
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of literature with our collection of articles, offering literary analysis, book recommendations, author spotlights, and thought-provoking discussions that celebrate the written word.
Han Kang’s radical empathy
As with all the Nobel Prize-winning South Korean writer’s stories, We Do Not Part rejects escapism to reach into the…
By
How WG Sebald found his form
His studies of Austrian writers, at times more fiction than fact, offer a guide to the artist he would become.
By
How we misread The Great Gatsby
The greatness of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel lies in its details. But they are often overlooked.
By
Yukio Mishima’s lifelong death wish
The Japanese writer and nationalist, a darling of the US far right, was haunted by the aesthetics of self-destruction.
By
Elsa Morante’s wild, compelling fiction
This vivid story of class and family by the rediscovered Italian novelist was where Elena Ferrante “discovered what literature can…
By
25 books to read in 2025
From AI to the Beatles and from Pope Francis to Jung Chang, here are the new books to look out…
By
How 4chan became the home of the elite reader
The left is losing its grip on the literary realm.
By
In search of a new 20th-century canon
In Stranger Than Fiction, the American editor Edwin Frank seeks to tell the story of the modern novel through an…
By
James Salter’s machismo myth
The all-action American novelist is praised for his virile heroics – but it was his instinct for “the feminine” that…
By
Anthony Burgess’s Napoleon complex
In Napoleon Symphony, the life of the French statesman was transformed into a virtuoso romp that still dazzles 50 years…
By
The case against George Orwell
As with DH Lawrence, Orwell’s private life has imperilled his reputation. Is there a way back?
By
Why the novel matters
We read and write fiction because it asks impossible questions, and leads us boldly into the unknown.
By
Joan Didion vs Eve Babitz
Lili Anolik’s dual biography reveals the writers’ vicious battle to be the true voice of 1970s California.
By
Quitting social media gave me a new creed: only disconnect
Online, intimacy is imagined and mystery non-existent. It’s time to lose our smartphones and find ourselves again.
By
Alan Hollinghurst’s English underground
Our finest living social novelist has made it his mission to disrupt the sexual and literary status quo.
By
Robert Icke Q&A: “Shakespeare is apparently infinite”
The award-winning playwright on the nobility of teachers and the masterpiece that is The Sopranos.
By
Books of the year 2024
New Statesman writers and guests choose their favourite reading of the year.
By
The political afterlife of Paradise Lost
From white supremacists to black activists, readers have sought moral legitimacy in Milton’s epic poem.
By
Celebrity book clubs are bad for literature
The novel becoming a cultural accessory means to look like a reader, not be one.
By