Bookworm

The Bird Artist   Howard Norman 's new novel about fatal romance and aesthetic distance has surprised critics and attracted a wide audience.

The writer discusses the evolution of her style and explores the gulf between political correctness and personal behavior.

The Waterworks   A discussion of the morality of mad scientists, New York history, and the evolution of the plot of E.L. Doctorow' s best-selling novel.

Doggie Bag The fictional avante garde, its present and future, discussed by one of its longest standing practitioners.

Rick Moody 's novel of the seventies provokes a discussion of the relationship between literary fiction and the marketplace.

The Book of Dreams   Craig Nova discusses the tough guy and ---noir--- novel as points of origin for his dark investigation of the California dream.

School for the Blind Grief, suicide and death are central to Dennis McFarland---s fiction; in this interview he examines some of the reasons why.

Editor, The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan The late Ted Berrigan---s influence on the New York School of Poets is discussed by his friend and editor.

Rise the Euphrates The Armenian genocide provides the background for this multi-generational first-novel.

Now You See Her Aging and its metaphors are discussed by the author of How to Make an American Quilt.

Try   Novelist Dennis Cooper discusses the aesthetics of violence and pornography and the special syntax of Generation X.

The October Palace; Women in Praise of the Sacred Devotional literature, Buddhism, and the relationship between poetry and personal theology are discussed by the poet-anthologist.

The Alienist The development of American psychology at the turn of the century is the intellectual linchpin of this popular thriller.

The Orange Tree   Noted intellectual and diplomat Carlos Fuentes explores eroticism in fiction.

Editor, Antaeus magazine Halpern talks about the life history of a literary magazine--and his own collected poetry.

The Great Divorce The writer discusses her complete works, from her early interest in depression and neurosis to her current interest in metamorphosis and transformation.

Crossing the River Slavery is the controlling theme in this discussion of history, family and the African-American experience.

They Whisper The politics of gender in fiction. Pulitzer Prize winner Butler discusses the difficulties surrounding a male writer---s creation of female desires and fantasies.

Haruko/Love Poems; Technical Difficulties The author talks about the relationship between her essays and her poetry--that is, the contradictions between political progressivism and personal truth-telling.

Particles and Luck Modern science and its implications for the fiction-writer: how metaphors from physics and chemistry have shaped Louis Jones--- new novel.

The Palace Thief   Author Ethan Canin discusses his inclination to avoid writer's tricks as he matures in his craft...

The Fermata Writer Nicholson Baker expresses his surprise at the shock with which critics have greeted this novel, in which a young man discovers that he can stop time. Sexuality, regression, ---mobius-strip--- personality structures and infantile fantasy all play a part in the discussion.

In the second of this two-part conversation, novelist Margaret Atwood takes relates women found in poetry, fable and religion to contemporary feminist narrative.

Author Margaret Atwood discusses her literary origins--fairy tales and romantic literature -- and The Robber Bride in the first of this two-part conversation.