Calvin and Hobbes are the only two characters from my childhood reading that I return to with any regularity, and they have grown with me, yielding newer and deeper meaning. Anthony Marra calvincharacterchildhood Change image and share on social
Chechnya forms the bookends to Tolstoy's career. He began writing his first novel, 'Childhood,' while in Starogladovskaya in Northern Chechnya, and his final novel, 'Hadji Murad,' is set in the Russo-Chechen War of the 19th century. Anthony Marra 19thbeginbookend share on social
When confronted with the facts of foreign atrocities, the experience is often consigned to the realm of the unimaginable. Fiction makes the unimaginable imaginable. Anthony Marra atrocityconfrontconsign Change image and share on social
Usually I spend a long while working alone before letting anyone read what I've written. Anthony Marra haveletlong Change image and share on social
Bill Watterson argued with his medium even as he eclipsed it. He was all too aware that no artistic expression better exemplifies our disposable consumer culture than the daily newspaper comic strip: today's masterpiece is tomorrow's birdcage lining. Anthony Marra argueartisticaware share on social
When I came to the last line of 'Car Crash While Hitchhiking,' I read it as a pitiless statement of indifference: a refusal to warn the family of their impending collision, a refusal to help when miraculously spared, a refusal to act on the empathy hiding behind the story's language. Anthony Marra actcarcollision share on social
At Grozny TV, the line between journalism and government propaganda is traversed as often as a Manhattan crosswalk. Anthony Marra crosswalkgovernmentgrozny Change image and share on social
A novel can grant humanity even to those who act inhumanely, and by making men and women of monsters, it can offer not only a ground-level view of a particular conflict, but a descent into the substratum of human nature capable of the incomprehensible. Anthony Marra actcapableconflict share on social
The idea that fiction can capture the stories that fall through the cracks of history informed 'A Constellation of Vital Phenomena,' which progresses across the two Chechen Wars of the 1990s and early 2000s. Anthony Marra 1990s2000scapture share on social
After spending the last few years working on a serious novel set in Chechnya, I was drawn to both the brevity and casualness of Twitter, and wrote a series of tweets titled 'The Erotic Inner Life of Mr. Bates from Downton Abbey.' Anthony Marra abbeybatebrevity share on social
