Category Archives: North American Literature

Preparing to Explore Weird Fiction in Lovecraft Country

By | August 13, 2020
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Cover of The American Weird

Based on a novel by the same name, Lovecraft Country is a drama-horror series set to premiere on HBO this weekend. The story will take you back to the 1950s as you follow Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors), his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) through Jim Crow America in search of Atticus’s missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). But as the characters embark on an unexpected road trip, they encounter a… Read More »

Happy birthday, Raymond Carver!

By | May 25, 2019
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The Art of Editing

Guest post by Tim Groenland Raymond Carver, who died in 1988, would have celebrated his 81st birthday today. In the years since his untimely passing, the continued spread of his work – the appearance of previously unpublished stories, new translations in multiple languages, adaptations and homages such as that found in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning… Read More »

Happy birthday, H.P. Lovecraft!

By | August 20, 2018
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H.P. Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890. To celebrate the 128th anniversary of his birth, Stephen Shapiro and Philip Barnard reflect on the legacy of his often controversial works. Should one feel embarrassed about reading H.P. Lovecraft’s weird fiction? Or worse, enjoying it? Or even worse, writing commentary on it? After decades of being categorized… Read More »

Happy birthday, Vladimir Nabokov!

By | April 23, 2018
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Although Vladimir Nabokov’s birth in 1899 on April 10 (‘Old Style’) translated to April 22 (‘New Style’) when Russia transitioned between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the ‘New Style’ also dropped certain days. Hence, Nabokov’s first birthday was actually celebrated on April 23 (which meant getting to share his special day with Shakespeare rather than… Read More »

A Gift of Indigenous Living

By | March 5, 2018
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Leslie Marmon Silko was born on March 5, 1948. To celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the most important and influential contemporary Native American writers, David L. Moore reflects on her role in bringing attention to Indigenous culture. Silko was one of the first modern literary voices to call attention to white shamanism, in “An Old-Time… Read More »

New Releases: May 2016

By | May 5, 2016
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May is shaping up to be an exciting month for Bloomsbury Lit—we have an incredible range of new titles coming out on subjects including Kerouac’s poetics, the future of literary theory, and reagency in the contemporary American novel. Take a look at some of our new titles below:   In Subject of the Event: Reagency… Read More »

The Uncanny Power and Artistry of Biofiction

By | March 31, 2016
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Guest post by Michael Lackey The Danish painter Einar Wegener had an elective surgery in 1930 to become the woman Lili Elbe.  At first glance, David Ebershoff’s novel The Danish Girl is about this transformation.  But if one understands how the biographical novel converts an historical figure into a literary symbol, then one can see… Read More »

On Writing a Guide to Poetry (Part II)

By | December 15, 2015
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Guest Post by Mark Yakich on the 1st edition of Poetry: A Survivor’s Guide What is one to think of the following picture? Is it a bit shocking? A bit adorable? Is it shockingly adorable? Whatever it is, it is the image I had initially envisioned for my book’s cover. As someone who’s been interested… Read More »

On Writing a Guide to Poetry (Part I)

By | December 8, 2015
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Guest Post by Mark Yakich on the 1st edition of Poetry: A Survivor’s Guide I’d wanted to call my book Poetry: A Guide for the Perplexed—not only because Bloomsbury has a series called “Guides for the Perplexed,” riffing off Maimonides’ 12th-century The Guide for the Perplexed, but because so many poems leave so many readers… Read More »

On Silence by John Biguenet

By | November 11, 2015
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From Surrounded by Souvenirs of Life: A Conversation with John Biguenet by Jennifer Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais (The Los Angeles Review of Books, November 3, 2015)   How long have you wanted to write about silence? What drew you to the subject? When I was approached by the publisher and asked if I would write a… Read More »