Readings

From Dexter and The Walking Dead to True Detective and Hannibal, our tastes for television are skewing darker; we’re losing ourselves not just in anti-heroes, but in horror itself. What are we really escaping into, though?

In this excerpt from The Bohemians, Ben Tarnoff examines the writing of a key work in Mark Twain’s transition from rakish journalist to literary giant, the short story “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog.”

Miriam Toews, author of All My Puny Sorrows, discusses fictionalizing her family history, how shame begets art, and creating a community with her writing.