Where Han Kang’s Nightmares Come From
In her novels, the South Korean Nobel laureate returns again and again to her country’s bloody past.
Judith Shulevitz
Judith Shulevitz is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. She has been a columnist for The New York Times Book Review, Slate, New York magazine, and The New Republic. She was a founding editor of Slate and Lingua Franca, and a senior editor at New York and The New Republic. Her book, The Sabbath World, was a New York Times notable book, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, and a recipient of the American Library Association’s award for Jewish literature. She is working on a book for the Yale Jewish Lives series.
Latest
Illustration by Sophia Deng Michel Houellebecq Has Some Fresh Predictions. Be Afraid.
In a new novel, France’s famously abrasive author progresses from barbed satire to a spiritual-conversion narrative.
Joel Saget / AFP / Getty The Israeli Artist Who Offends Everyone
Long a fearless critic of Israel, Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi has made wrenching portraits of her nation’s suffering since October 7.
© Zoya Cherkassky. Courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort, New York. Stop Trying to Understand Kafka
His parables aren’t supposed to make sense.
Illustration by Gabriela Pesqueira Listen to What They’re Chanting
A close look at the words being shouted at protests on campuses across the country reveals why some see the pro-Palestinian cause as so threatening.
Nathan Howard / Reuters A Child’s-Eye View of 1970s Debauchery
The brilliant novels of Helen Garner depict her generation’s embrace of freedom, but also the sad consequences.
Pete Thompson / Gallery Stock Marilynne Robinson Makes the Book of Genesis New
In her hands, scripture becomes a precursor to the novel.
Elizabeth Hart The 19th-Century Novel That Reaffirmed My Zionism
George Eliot took up the question of Jewish self-determination in her last novel, Daniel Deronda, and arrived at a surprising answer.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: The Met; Universal Images Group / Culture Club / Getty. Zombie History Stalks Ukraine
In a haunted novel, memories of a brutal past transform bodies as well as psyches.
Nicole Rifkin Lauren Groff Has Written a New Gospel
In her new novel, The Vaster Wilds, the writer tells the story of a girl escaping a colonial outpost and finding herself enveloped in the natural world.
Millennium Images / GalleryStock
