Cover of The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from The Paris Review

The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from The Paris Review

An energetic collection celebrating the bold writers at the forefront of today's literary world—featuring stories, essays, and poems from "America's greatest literary journal" (Time)

Read more

For more than half a century, theParis Review has launched some of the most exciting new literary voices, from Philip Roth to David Foster Wallace. But rather than trading on nostalgia, the storied journal—reconceived in 2010 by editor Lorin Stein—continues to search outside the mainstream for the most exciting emerging writers. Harmonizing a timeless literary feel with impeccable modern taste, its pages are vivid proof that the best of today's writing more than upholds the lofty standards that built the magazine's reputation.

The Unprofessionals collects pieces from the new iteration of the Paris Review by contemporary writers who treat their art not as a profession, but as a calling. Some, like Zadie Smith, Ben Lerner, and John Jeremiah Sullivan, are already major literary presences, while others, like Emma Cline, Benjamin Nugent, and Ottessa Moshfegh, will soon be household names. A master class in contemporary writing across genres, this collection introduces the must-knowvoices in the modern literary scene.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 304 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from The Paris Review? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from The Paris Review. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Granta 136: Legacies of Love Shares short stories, fiction, poetry
  2. The Pushcart Prize XXXVI: Best of the Small Presses Shares short stories, poetry, anthology
  3. Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry Shares poetry, anthology
  4. Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories Shares short stories, poetry, fiction

“People who read The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from The Paris Review tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Palm Sunday/Welcome to the Monkeyhouse
  2. New American Stories
  3. A Defence of Poetry
  4. A Worldly Country

“If you want more of the same, start with these.”

  1. Black Cloud
  2. Literature: The Human Experience
  3. The Paris Review Issue 209
  4. 40 Likely to Die Before 40: An Introduction to Alt Lit

“If it was the short stories that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms
  2. The Pushcart Prize XXXV: Best of the Small Presses
  3. Twisted
  4. Blood and Soap: Stories

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Best of Tin House: Stories
  2. Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings
  3. Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: The Art of Truth
  4. The Pushcart Prize XXXI: Best of the Small Presses (2007 Edition)