Shannon Burns
Books of the Year is always one our most popular features. Find out what our 41 contributors liked most this year – and why.
... (read more)Few authors summon the various modes of irony to better purpose than J.M. Coetzee. Typically, before Coetzee gives a reading, the audience can safely suppose that they are in for a good laugh, the odd squirm and cringe, and at least one moment of bewilderment. But there are exceptions to this general rule, and the several hundred people who gathered to hear Coetzee read last week, on a balmy Tuesday evening in Adelaide, were fortunate to witness an atypical performance by the Nobel laureate.
... (read more)Derrida: A Biography by Benoît Peeters, translated by Andrew Brown
by Shannon Burns •
Promiscuous: Portnoy’s Complaint and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness by by Bernard Avishai
by Shannon Burns •