Ottessa Moshfegh’s ‘Death in Her Hands’ Is Not What It Seems
A character named Magda dies, and lives, in language only in Ottessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands. But then again, don't all literary characters?
Jesse Kavadlo
Jesse Kavadlo was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and is happily settled in suburban St. Louis. He has been fascinated with angsty novels, monster movies, alienated superheroes, ironic dystopias, and heavy metal for a few decades. He has a Ph.D. in English from Fordham University, is a professor at Maryville University, and gigs as the guitarist and singer for an 80s hard rock cover band. He has published several dozen essays in academic journals and book collections as well as three books, most recently American Popular Culture in the Era of Terror: Falling Skies, Dark Knights Rising, and Collapsing Cultures (Praeger, 2015).
Unorthodox Storytelling
Deborah Feldman's memoir, Unorthodox, is more than a depiction, or even indictment, of the Satmar. It's an indictment of any patriarchal social system that shrinks young women's dreams to the size of a kitchen, and then blames them for it.
Our Monsters, Ourselves
Not just for devotees or scholars, The Monster Theory Reader provides a framework for understanding humans at least as much as monsters.
How to Read Terry Eagleton’s ‘How to Read Literature’
Prolific literary critic Terry Eagleton tries to explain how but doesn't tell why, we shouldn't read about vacuum cleaners in How to Read Literature.
‘Shapeshifters’ and Other Trans-forming Humans
Supernatural Historian John Kachuba deftly demonstrates in Shapeshifters: A History that change is the only constant in life.
On Jennine Capó Crucet’s Course in Continuing Education, ‘My Time Among the Whites’
In her memoir My Time Among the Whites, Jennine Capó Crucet demonstrates that making your home among strangers is harder than it seems.
Never Ending Endings in ‘The Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Game of Thrones’
In both The Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones, the key conflicts are not between good and evil, as one might think, but between the beginnings and endings of their stories.
Unlike Virgil, De Villiers Has a Sense of Humor About ‘Hell and Damnation’
Marq De Villiers' readers will readily discern where -- aside from abysses -- Hell and Damnation: A Sinner's Guide to Eternal Torment is headed: someplace unexpectedly fun.
Open Court’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Philosophy Emphasizes Caution and Awareness
As far as The Handmaid's Tale and Philosophy is concerned, Trump et al are the exact bastards you're not supposed to let grind you down.
The Valley of the Shadow of Megadeth
Reissues of The World Needs a Hero and The System Has Failed remind us that Megadeth has been coming back for years.
‘Bandersnatch’ Through Black Mirror’s Looking-Glass
Netflix’s interactive movie, Bandersnatch, doesn’t really offer choices, but it does offer something else: a warning.
‘Wasteland’, or, How We Went From World War I to White Walkers
In Wasteland: The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror, historian W. Scott Poole exhumes our obsession with the living dead.