Anthony Domestico

Fiction: ‘Disinheritance’ by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Plus Thomas McGuane’s “A Wooded Shore” and Cynan Jones’s “Pulse.”

Newly published is a second posthumous collection of stories by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, like Mavis Gallant a sensitive and witty chronicler of displacement. Or as she put it, "a cuckoo forever insinuating myself into others’ nests." My review for this weekend's WSJ. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

‘But Not Yet’ | Anthony Domestico, Lauren Kane “For those people who feel that they haven’t accomplished enough yet—which is to say, almost all of us!—Amy Clampitt’s life provides an allegory of persistence rewarded.”

“That’s one of the reasons we go to poetry in the first place: to indulge in language, ideas, and music, all to the point of excess.” —an interview with @tonydomestico.bsky.social

"Creative Writing has never
been my trip although I understand
the fun of teaching someone
something fun to do although most people
simply have not got the gift
and where's the point?"

- James Schuyler, "Dining Out with Doug and Frank"

‘But Not Yet’ | Anthony Domestico, Lauren Kane “For those people who feel that they haven’t accomplished enough yet—which is to say, almost all of us!—Amy Clampitt’s life provides an allegory of persistence rewarded.”

I talked with Lauren Kane @nybooks.com about Amy Clampitt, conversion narratives, and what writers I like to teach.

www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

“For those people who feel that they haven’t accomplished enough yet—which is to say almost all of us!—Amy Clampitt’s life provides an allegory of persistence rewarded.” —an interview with @tonydomestico.bsky.social

More More More Thomas Pynchon's ninth, and perhaps final, novel is haunted by mystery, meaning, and the undead.

I wrote about Thomas Pynchon's undead for @commonweal.bsky.social

www.commonwealmagazine.org/more-more-more

Henry James’s ‘Dear Native Land’ | John Banville The writer’s 1904 tour of America left him little less than horrified at what he encountered there.

John Banville on Henry James in America

The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.

I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University

www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

More More More Thomas Pynchon's ninth, and perhaps final, novel is haunted by mystery, meaning, and the undead.

I wrote about Thomas Pynchon's undead for @commonweal.bsky.social

www.commonwealmagazine.org/more-more-more

Thanks, Dominic!

My piece on the life and work of Amy Clampitt.

"I am sorry to say that I am very far from well; and Jemima has just told me that the butcher says there is a bad sore-throat very much about. I dare say I shall catch it; and my sore-throats, you know, are always worse than anybody's."

- "Persuasion"

Hello (Again), My Father Susan Cheever has made a kind of cottage industry of debunking her father’s carefully maintained image.

"Cheever may well owe his daughter a belated apology. But admitting that doesn’t do much for those of us coming to this book hoping for new insights."

Anthony Giardina on Susan Cheever's latest book for @commonweal.bsky.social

www.commonwealmagazine.org/susan-john-c...

"It was now dusk, that time when all the possibilities seemed to shift a little."

- Joy Williams, "Nettle"

Ever Inward | Anthony Domestico A biography of the poet Amy Clampitt shows how poetry germinated throughout her life and blossomed in a late-career flourishing.

Anthony Domestico @tonydomestico.bsky.social on Amy Clampitt’s pleasure-giving poetry

"He laughed, but, as usual, seemed quite candid, and really to mean what he said."

- "Bleak House"

Ever Inward | Anthony Domestico A biography of the poet Amy Clampitt shows how poetry germinated throughout her life and blossomed in a late-career flourishing.

My piece on the late flowering of Amy Clampitt’s poetry for @nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Ever Inward | Anthony Domestico A biography of the poet Amy Clampitt shows how poetry germinated throughout her life and blossomed in a late-career flourishing.

My piece on the late flowering of Amy Clampitt’s poetry for @nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

"Daily the restless men who have no occupation in life, present the appearance of being rather busy."

- "Bleak House"

Sociology and Allegory The question of the relationship between internal and external analysis of literature remains open across disciplinary inquiries. Although Pierre Bourdieu claims to offer a definitive answer to the qu...

For the haters who say Big Fiction over-relies on allegory, my most explicit, spirited defense of allegorical interpretation. "Sociology and Allegory," published as part of a series on the sociology of literature in IASL. Lemme know if you want a PDF
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

Bluesky has reached Prospect-Assigned-to-G-League levels of resonance. That's when you know you've hit with the NBA hardcores. #NBASky

William Kennedy, Albany’s Bard, Reads a Story With Legs

Utterly delightful piece by Dan Barry about catching up with a sharply dressed William Kennedy, now a spry 97 years old, at a fundraising event in Albany! He remembers his mother's excitement when FDR won the presidential election in '36. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/a...

Ever Inward | Anthony Domestico A biography of the poet Amy Clampitt shows how poetry germinated throughout her life and blossomed in a late-career flourishing.

I wrote on Amy Clampitt’s life and work for the new issue of @nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Ever Inward | Anthony Domestico A biography of the poet Amy Clampitt shows how poetry germinated throughout her life and blossomed in a late-career flourishing.

I wrote on Amy Clampitt’s life and work for the new issue of @nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

"'Sir,' returns Vholes, always looking at the client as if he were making a lingering meal of him with his eyes as well as with his professional appetite."

- "Bleak House"

@paulbmoses.bsky.social on Paul Elie's latest for @commonweal.bsky.social

"Guv'ner," says Phil with exceeding gravity, "he's a leech in his dispositions, he's a screw and a wice in his actions, a snake in his twistings, and a lobster in his claws."

- "Bleak House"

Episode Twenty-Eight: Mason & Dixon (November 2025) Reading too widely and talking too seriously.

What better way to start a Friday than by listening to Joel and I talk about Mason & Dixon? on.soundcloud.com/dhLTLsFPABxW...

It's been a James Schuyler day. The Manhattan sublime, from his Payne Whitney poems.