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Explore Essays and memoir

Generation Gap

Kate Zambreno

‘She didn’t trust us because, to her, tenants were like children.’

Kate Zambreno on negotiating with her older landlady.

Proper Country

Ralf Webb

‘It was by necessity, not choice.’

Ralf Webb on returning to the West Country.

Living with Germanness

Nell Zink

‘It sounds like a stand-up comedy routine, but it’s true: I moved to Germany to get away from attractive men.’

Nell Zink on German men.

A Very German Coup

Jan Wilm

‘The suspected ringleader was a 71-year-old real-estate developer with an engineering degree.’

Jan Wilm on an attempted coup in 2022.

Memory of Light

Prabda Yoon

‘Until a few years ago, to even mention the monarchy with a questioning undertone was taboo.’

Prabda Yoon on democracy in Thailand.

A Report on Music in Ukraine

Ed Vulliamy

‘Nights at the opera in Ukraine – where everything, including every kind of music, has changed.’

Ed Vulliamy on music in Ukraine.

The Soundscape of War

Ada Wordsworth

‘Ordinary sounds change their meaning in the context of war when the reverberations of sound can mean death.’

Ada Wordsworth on silence, noise and the war in Ukraine.

Beyond Deep Throat | Part II

Saskia Vogel

‘Whatever porn is or is not, like dance it is rooted in the body.’

Saskia Vogel on the relationship between dance and pornography.

Beyond Deep Throat | Part I

Saskia Vogel

‘The eye wants to see its fill, the I wants to see how it feels.’

Saskia Vogel on the foundational stories of pornography.

On Marguerite Duras

Kate Zambreno

‘Everyone says you were beautiful when you were young.’

Kate Zambreno on Marguerite Duras.

Fateha

Sana Valiulina

‘While Fateha is fleeing westward with her children, another woman is trying to save herself from the city on the shore of the Sea of Azov.’

Memoir by Sana Valiulina, translated by Polly Gannon.

Notes on Craft

Missouri Williams

‘After a series of seizures in my temporal lobe, I started to forget words and say sentences backwards.’

Missouri Williams on the drive to circle back.

Blue-Eyed Muggers

Alejandro Zambra

‘At every protest, when it was time to yell at the cops, I remembered my father and felt a turbulent emotion.’

Memoir by Alejandro Zambra on his father and his son.

Best Book of 1930: The Man Without Qualities

Elaine L. Wang

Elaine L. Wang on the best book of 1930: The Man Without Qualities.