"Deliberating over the Atlantic 10 list is, in some ways, a test of memory. Does a novel we read in January still thrill us? Does the reportage that impressed us midyear still feel surprising when we turn back to it in the fall? We're asking ourselves, in short, which books have kept our attention, sometimes months after we've first encountered them."
"The subject of memory also energizes most of the books we chose this year. Several works look back vividly and honestly on the convulsions of the past. A biography of a major figure unearths neglected aspects of his life and identity; another work of nonfiction immerses readers in an American class at risk of being forgotten. And a few novels nod to the future, imagining how life will change-or already has-as technology advances and calamities accrue."
"Although his oeuvre was preoccupied with love in all its shades, the image of James Baldwin that endures in American memory is profoundly isolated and aromantic. The public embrace of Baldwin as the scribe of the civil-rights movement has involved a kind of willful amnesia regarding his queerness, and, in turn, an erasure of the muses-romantic and platonic- who inspired him."
Deliberation over the Atlantic 10 list functions as a test of memory, asking which books continue to hold attention months after first reading. Selection favors works that not only demonstrate beautiful prose and originality but also linger in the reader's mind after the final page. Memory animates many chosen titles: several look back on historical convulsions, a biography recovers neglected aspects of a major figure's life and identity, another nonfiction immerses readers in an American class at risk of being forgotten, and some novels imagine technological and ecological futures. All emphasize fine detail in characters' thoughts, behaviors, achievements, and errors to ensure lasting impact.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]