Critical Notes

Roundup: 9/11 Fiction, Literary Brooklyn, Geoff Dyer, and more

By Mark Athitakis

Adam Kirsch (in the Wall Street Journal) and Laura Miller (in Salon) consider why the definitive 9/11 novel has yet to be written (and if it can be).

How much of a poetry critic quote without falling afoul of copyright law? David Orr ponders the matter in the New York Times.

Evan Hughes discusses Literary Brooklyn, his critical study of the borough’s writers, at the Barnes & Noble Review.

Kerri Arsenault reviews Geoff Dyer’s The Missing of the Somme in Bookslut.

Steven G. Kellman reviews Irene Nemirovsky’s final novel, All Our Worldly Goods, for the Jewish Daily Forward.

Scott McLemee reviews Wayne Koestenbaum’s Humiliation for Inside Higher Ed.

Lev Grossman discusses the consequences of the book’s transition from scroll to codex to screen in the New York Times Book Review.

Carolyn Kellogg reviews Dan Fante’s memoir of his father, Fante, in the Los Angeles Times.

Jane Ciabattari reviews Julie Otsuka’s second novel, The Buddha in the Attic, for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Joseph Peschel reviews the Calvin Trillin humor omnibus Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

NBCC finalist Morris Dickstein considers the legacy of Catch-22 in the Daily Beast.

Your reviews and recommendations help seed these roundups: If you’re an NBCC member with a review you’d like considered for inclusion, please email nbcccritics@gmail.com. You can also get our attention by using the Twitter hashtag #nbcc, posting on the wall of our Facebook page, or joining our members-only LinkedIn group.