Daphne Merkin

New York

Contributing Writer at The New York Times

Literary critic, memoirist and novelist. My novel, 22 MINUTES OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, about erotic obsession, comes out in paperback on July 6th, 2021.

Articles

There’s Still More to Learn About Anne Frank

2 months ago | newrepublic.com | Daphne Merkin

To take on a subject that has been extensively written about requires a degree of both daring and ambition in an author. When I started to read The Many Lives of Anne Frank by Ruth Franklin, I thought there was little that I didn’t know about Anne and her circumstances. I had read her world-famous diary (eventually published in more than 75 translations), of course, and had tried to emulate it by starting my own diary. (This exercise lasted all of a week).
There’s Still More to Learn About Anne Frank

2 months ago | yahoo.com | Daphne Merkin

To take on a subject that has been extensively written about requires a degree of both daring and ambition in an author. When I started to read The Many Lives of Anne Frank by Ruth Franklin, I thought there was little that I didn’t know about Anne and her circumstances. I had read her world-famous diary (eventually published in more than 75 translations), of course, and had tried to emulate it by starting my own diary.
There’s Still More to Learn About Anne Frank

2 months ago | yahoo.com | Daphne Merkin

To take on a subject that has been extensively written about requires a degree of both daring and ambition in an author. When I started to read The Many Lives of Anne Frank by Ruth Franklin, I thought there was little that I didn’t know about Anne and her circumstances. I had read her world-famous diary (eventually published in more than 75 translations), of course, and had tried to emulate it by starting my own diary.
What Makes Bergdorf Goodman the Best in the Business?

Dec 6, 2024 | airmail.news | Daphne Merkin

How many bronzers or lip glosses does a woman need? As is patently obvious, the whole multi-billion-dollar beauty industry has nothing to do with need and everything to do with desire—the desire to be prettier or younger-looking, with more angled cheekbones or fuller lips or smokier eyes. I ask this question not as a bluestocking who has read Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse four times (though I have), or who pulls a comb through her hair in the morning and calls it a day (which I don’t).
Boycotting Israeli literature reveals the folly of anti-Zionism

Nov 3, 2024 | nypost.com | Daphne Merkin

A movement to ban Israeli authors and literature is gaining steam across the globe. But this nefarious effort actually reveals a deeper strain of anti-Zionism and antisemitism that is illiberal, anti-intellectual and immoral.
'Carnicero': Joyce Carol Oates no escatima detalles repulsivos en su obra más surrealista y truculenta

Oct 6, 2024 | elespanol.com | Daphne Merkin

Letras 02:25 Hay muchas cosas que se podrían destacar de la dilatada carrera literaria de Joyce Carol Oates (Lockport, Nueva York, 1938), entre ellas su legendaria prolificidad. Dotada de un talento proteico, ha pasado de un género literario a otro, ya sean novelas, cuentos, memorias, poesía, libros infantiles, ensayos, obras de teatro o libretos. Para envidia, admiración y fastidio de los escritores menos fluidos, está claro que Oates nunca ha sufrido el bloqueo del escritor.
The Bliss and the Risks | Daphne Merkin

Sep 12, 2024 | nybooks.com | Daphne Merkin

At the auction houses the predatory collectors come and go, talking of resale prices high and low. How much can you get for current favorites—Cecily Brown? Mickalene Thomas?—or for early Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden?
After Alice Munro’s Daughter Accuses Father Abuse, Daphne Merkin Recalls the Warning Signs

Aug 2, 2024 | airmail.news | Daphne Merkin

Two decades ago, when I asked the editor of The New York Times Magazine whether he would be interested in a profile of the Canadian writer Alice Munro, his answer was that she wasn’t a “sexy” enough figure, adding that another writer had previously attempted a piece that didn’t work out. I argued that Munro, although not a household name, was probably among the best—if not the best—contemporary short-story writers and deserving of a profile.
“Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative,” by Glenn Loury: Book Review

Jun 7, 2024 | airmail.news | Daphne Merkin

Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative by Glenn Loury As has been evident for at least the past two decades, America is a radically polarized country, more so today than at any time since the Vietnam War. Democrats demonize Republicans as coldhearted zealots while Republicans demonize Democrats as hopelessly woke and out of touch.
'Butcher' Tells the (Mostly) True Story of a Very Bad Gynecologist

May 21, 2024 | nytimes.com | Daphne Merkin

BUTCHER: Father of Modern Gyno-Psychology, by Joyce Carol OatesThere are many things one could note about Joyce Carol Oates's long writing career - including, most strikingly, its legendary prolificness. Gifted with a protean talent, she has shifted with ease from one literary genre to another, be it novels, short stories, memoir, poetry, children's books, essay collections, plays or librettos.