The Unprofessionals
New American Writing from The Paris Review
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
"A dispatch from the front lines of literature." —The Atlantic
The Unprofessionals is an energetic collection celebrating the bold writers at the forefront of today’s literary world—featuring stories, essays, and poems from “America’s greatest literary journal” (Time)
For more than half a century, the Paris Review has launched some of the most exciting new literary voices, from Philip Roth to David Foster Wallace. But rather than trading on nostalgia, the storied journal continues to search outside the mainstream for the most exciting emerging writers. Harmonizing a timeless literary feel with impeccable modern taste, its pages are vivid proof that the best of today’s writing more than upholds the lofty standards that built the magazine’s reputation.
The Unprofessionals collects pieces from the new iteration of the Paris Review by contemporary writers who treat their art not as a profession, but as a calling. Some, like Zadie Smith, Ben Lerner, and John Jeremiah Sullivan, are already major literary presences, while others, like Emma Cline, Benjamin Nugent, and Ottessa Moshfegh, will soon be household names. A master class in contemporary writing across genres, this collection introduces the must-know voices in the modern literary scene.
Customer Reviews
Not sure where things went wrong
I had high hopes for this collection and expected to thoroughly enjoy it. There are moments of brilliance here, particularly in the nonfiction and a few of the poetry pieces, but the fiction (excepting one darkly humorous piece) is unrelentingly dreary and forcibly 'realistic' (not to mention 'male', as they are almost all told from male points of view). It paints a very myopic picture of literature at this moment in time. If that is your thing, enjoy. But if you want a broader look at all that fiction can encompass (and it can encompass so much more than is represented here), you should look elsewhere.