Maureen Corrigan

1 week ago | nhpr.org | Maureen Corrigan

In the German legend, Faust signs a contract with the devil, exchanging his immortal soul for vast knowledge and other earthly rewards. It's a cut-and-dried transaction. In Daniel Kehlmann's new novel, The Director, the demonic deal-making is murkier, more drawn out. Little by little, a series of compromises eat away like acid at the integrity of a once-great artist.

3 weeks ago | mprnews.org | Maureen Corrigan

Create an account or log in to save stories. Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories. As the saying goes: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” And what better way to maintain stamina and mental equilibrium during tense times than a dose of wit? Two women writers — one a long-deceased legend; the other a debut novelist — give readers reason to keep calm and smile on.

1 month ago | washingtonpost.com | Maureen Corrigan

‘The Great Gatsby’ is a classic. But a century ago, it flopped. (washingtonpost.com) ‘The Great Gatsby’ is a classic. But a century ago, it flopped. By Maureen Corrigan 2025040923300000 F. Scott Fitzgerald would be flabbergasted to hear that on the 100th anniversary of its publication, "The Great Gatsby" is being celebrated around the world.

1 month ago | wesa.fm | Maureen Corrigan

The Great Gatsby — 100 years old? How can that be? To borrow the words F. Scott Fitzgerald used to describe New York City in the 1920s, The Great Gatsby possesses "all the iridescence of the beginning of the world."The novel's main characters are young in a restless America reveling in the excess of the new Modern Age — an age whose anxieties have resurfaced with fresh intensity in our own moment.

1 month ago | mprnews.org | Maureen Corrigan

No one summons up the “old weird America” in fiction like Karen Russell does. Her tall tales of alligator wrestlers in Florida, homesteaders on the Gothic Great Plains and female prospectors digging for gold mash up history with the macabre in a cracker barrel aged with dry humor. Russell’s celebrated debut novel “Swamplandia!” came out in 2011. Since then, she’s published a couple of excellent short story collections; but, the wait for another novel was growing a little strained.