Bookworm

Francine Prose began her career in the magical-realist mode. Now her books are cynical and dark. In Guided Tours of Hell she tells why.

Le Divorce (Dutton) In this satire of American behavior abroad, Diane Johnson exhibits a lethal distaste for innocence.

Closing the Circle A show about an implausible miracle -- a link between art and commerce. Closing the Circle is an Oulipean tale of air travel. With funds earned by the book, Mitch Sisskind is developing a radio station devoted entirely to literature.

Melanie Rae Thon First, Body (Houghton Mifflin) Thon has been chosen as one of the top American writers under forty. A discussion of her stories as a confluence of realistic prose and expressionistic poetry.

Jamaica Kincaid, who grew up in poverty on Antigua, discusses the cultural contradictions of late capitalism and her ambivalent acceptance of American wealth.

The servant-girl novel, that staple of Victorian fiction, is reinvented by Atwood in her most compelling novel to date, "Alias Grace."

The Cattle Killings (Houghton Mifflin) As a writer, John Edgar Wideman finds himself at the intersection of African-American experience and High Modernist experimentation. A talk about ethnicity and the avant-garde.

The Christmas Letters (Algonquin) Lee Smith actively loves her characters; her warmth towards them drives their stories. A conversation about fiction writing as a natural activity-- with roots in childhood, family gossip and country music.

The Night in Question (Knopf) Tobias Wolff on the ethical questions that animate the dramatic heart of his stories. An intense analysis of fiction's relation to truth.

Man Booker-Prize winner Michael Ondaatje seems to be one of the very few writers who appreciates the screen adaptation of his work...