Books & Fiction: Learning to Love the Bear That Attacked You

Katy Waldman on Nastassja Martin’s new memoir. Plus: Frantz Fanon’s enduring legacy, and new poetry by Hala Alyan and Robert Pinsky. View in browser | Update your preferences Page-Turner Learning to Love the Bear That Attacked You In a new memoir, the anthropologist Nastassja Martin writes about her strange bond with the animal that maimed her. By Katy Waldman Books Frantz Fanon’s Enduring Legacy The post-colonial thinker’s seminal book, “The Wretched of the Earth,” described political oppression in psychological terms. What are its lessons for our current moment? By Pankaj Mishra The Writer’s Voice: Fiction from the Magazine Kate Walbert Reads “Marriage Quarantine” The author reads her story from this week’s issue of the magazine. Books Briefly Noted “Born in Blackness,” “Twelve Caesars,” “The Sentence,” and “A Time Outside This Time.” Poetry Poems “Topography” “The land is a crick in the neck.” By Hala Alyan Poems “Culture” “Bless all things that are more than one thing and all people / For our unwitting and witting witless improvised mixtures.” By Robert Pinsky On This Day Under Review Can Rilke Change Your Life? The Austrian poet and novelist was born on this day in 1875. Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet” has spoken to artists for almost a century. The other half of the famous correspondence reveals the treacherous work of becoming who you want to be. By Kamran Javadizadeh More from The New Yorker 2021 in Review The Best Movies of 2021 This year’s releases, augmented by movies postponed from last year, offer exceptional artistry amid the industry’s commercial difficulties. By Richard Brody Dept. of Returns A Year in Gay Bars Queer establishments were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic, but some nights it could feel as if nothing had changed. By Bryan Washington You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for Books & Fiction from The New Yorker. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up. Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our Privacy Policy Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.