Christopher Carroll, the reviews editor at Harper’s, sits down with the former New Books columnist, Claire Messud, and her successor, Dan Piepenbring, to discuss the history, challenges, and pleasures of the storied column. The three critics go over their influences, the changes in publishing today, and, above all else, the great opportunity the column has given each writer to “go on a walk through your own mind.”
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Claire Messud’s “New Books” columns
Claire Messud’s “New Books” column on Kurt Wolff, Phillipe Sands, and Tom Stoppard
Chris Carroll’s “New Books” column for July
Dan Piepenbring’s premier “New Books” column for August
Elizabeth Hardwick’s 1959 “The Decline of Book Reviewing” essay in Harper’s
Claire Messud’s novel, The Emperor’s Children
Dan Piepenbring’s book CHAOS
“New Books” columns, including Zadie Smith, Joshua Cohen, and John Leonard
Jonathan Franzen’s essay “Perchance to Dream” from April, 1996
0:49: History of “New Books” coverage
3:38: What goes into choosing a book
7:36: Writing fiction as a critic
9:10: Changes in publishing today, “gone are those days”
13:59: “Centripetal vs. centrifugal forces” in book criticism
15:45: “If you care enough about what happens, then the book has already won you over.”
17:16: The critical pan, and why they’re less necessary now
29:10: The pleasure of connecting different titles, “serendipitously”
New Books