Editor's Note
This week, Chapter 16 looks at three very different books that explore big questions. In her review of Susannah Felts’ new novel, The Come Apart, Bianca Sass writes that the protagonist, an aspiring musician, struggles with an “age-old and universal” dilemma: “Is it enough to make art for the sake of self-expression, or is external recognition what endows art (and life) with meaning?” Despite its depiction of struggle, the novel is “an ode to life in the music community.”
Sean Kinch reviews American Men by journalist Jordan Ritter Conn. “As Conn traces the lives of four men,” Sean writes, “we see them repeatedly bullied, beaten, betrayed, abused, and neglected, always by dudes who should be on their teams. Why do men expend endless energy ostracizing those who are different while celebrating the most barbaric among us, then decry our country’s ‘crisis of masculinity’? … American Men posits a simple answer: Men, look in the mirror.”
With its focus on contemplation and the “grace of nature,” Jeff Hardin’s latest poetry collection, Coming into an Inheritance, “offers a balm for our chaotic times,” notes reviewer Erica Wright. Yet it does so while grappling with uncertainty. “Hardin often practices what John Keats deemed ‘negative capability,’” Erica observes, approaching the art of poetry as “someone who’s comfortable asking questions that might not have answers.”
News Roundup
- Alice Randall discussed her multi-faceted engagement with country music with Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson for the podcast miniseries Sepia Tones.
- Author Tim Johnston died on May 26. A former teacher of creative writing at the University of Memphis, his novels include Descent and The Current.
- Tom Zoellner, author of The Road Was Full of Thorns, wrote about past and present censorship in Literary Hub.
- A poem by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood was published in The Sun.
- Ann Patchett discussed Whistler with All Things Considered.
- Ruta Sepetys discussed A Fortune of Sand with The Orange County Register.
- Submissions are open through June 30 for The Four Way Books Ellen Bryant Voigt Series in Poetry, and Sundress Publications is accepting full-length poetry manuscripts through August 31.
