A new issue of Open Letters Monthly is out. From n+1, as Brooklyn has changed, so has the gentrification novel, and today's writers are more likely to romanticize grimy dive bars than cornice moldings; still, taste continues to be presented as the force that defines city life. A review of Out of the Blue: September 11 and the Novel by Kristiaan Versluys. A review of Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor by Brad Gooch (and more; and more by Wendy Lesser at Bookforum). From LRB, a review essay on Guy de Maupassant. Grime and punishment: Four new literary stars expose the corruption and sleaze of modern-day life in Russia. A review of The Feminism of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Sexualities, Histories, Progressivism by Judith A. Allen. When we read fiction, we also can’t help “reading” the author at the same time. The final cut: Raymond Carver and Ernest Hemingway are both celebrated for their brutal minimalism — but how much do they owe their renown to the interventions of their editors? Chick lit offers fully rounded heroines for fully rounded women. From TLS, an article on the precious Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the precocious, outstanding, gifted poet and frustrated conservative who sought to escape his Jewish roots; and one of our greatest war poets: A look at the impetuous life and free-ranging work of Lynette Roberts. Annuals of crime: A review of Best American Mystery Stories 2009. Critics take a second look at Francoise Sagan, whose Bonjour Tristesse, written when she was just 17, was a literary sensation worldwide. A look at 5 authors more badass than the badass character they created.
