Adelle Waldman
@adellewaldman.bsky.social
author of the novels “Help Wanted” and “The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.”
I think criticism in recent years has been apt to talk a bit too much about the privilege of individual authors & too little about general material conditions and how they influence the fiction of a given period. I was very glad to try to address that by writing this.
“The death of the suburban novel…may be of interest primarily to academics and literary hobbyists. The death of the middle-class society from which it sprung, on the other hand, is a national tragedy.” —Adelle Waldman
The Life and Death of the Suburban Novel | Adelle Waldman
Remember the suburban novel? Books about attractive white families in nice houses who turn out to be miserable? Examples include Richard Yates’s
buff.ly
September 10, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I think criticism in recent years has been apt to talk a bit too much about the privilege of individual authors & too little about general material conditions and how they influence the fiction of a given period. I was very glad to try to address that by writing this.
For @nybooks.com, I wrote about the death of the suburban novel but really about what I think makes a lot of today's fiction unsatisfying: "it’s awkward to write novels about middle-class problems in a society that is no longer even nominally middle-class.” www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
The Life and Death of the Suburban Novel | Adelle Waldman
Remember the suburban novel? Books about attractive white families in nice houses who turn out to be miserable? Examples include Richard Yates’s
www.nybooks.com
August 28, 2025 at 9:39 PM
For @nybooks.com, I wrote about the death of the suburban novel but really about what I think makes a lot of today's fiction unsatisfying: "it’s awkward to write novels about middle-class problems in a society that is no longer even nominally middle-class.” www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
Reposted by Adelle Waldman
@adellewaldman.bsky.social: “For millions of American low-wage workers today, the problem is not overwork—it’s underwork.“ theatln.tc/2HzqtiwI
May 14, 2025 at 3:27 PM
@adellewaldman.bsky.social: “For millions of American low-wage workers today, the problem is not overwork—it’s underwork.“ theatln.tc/2HzqtiwI
Writing an introduction to the new Vintage edition of Jane Austen’s “Northanger Abbey” was one of the most fun assignments I’ve ever had. I’m delighted that The New Yorker reprinted it.
With so much in its favor—a style that is trademark Jane Austen, an appealing and ingenuous heroine, and an equally appealing love interest—why is “Northanger Abbey” not more appreciated? Adelle Waldman defends Austen’s least beloved novel.
In Praise of Jane Austen’s Least Beloved Novel
Part marriage plot, part novel about novels, “Northanger Abbey” is Austen’s strangest—and perhaps most underappreciated—work.
www.newyorker.com
June 4, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Writing an introduction to the new Vintage edition of Jane Austen’s “Northanger Abbey” was one of the most fun assignments I’ve ever had. I’m delighted that The New Yorker reprinted it.
I don't know about others (?), but I’ve never been able to listen to the audio versions of my books—too cringe-y to hear my own words. But I've been told that the reader of "Help Wanted" is terrific, & so I'm especially happy to see this: open.spotify.com/playlist/37i... cc @wwnorton.bsky.social
Best Fiction Audiobooks of 2024
open.spotify.com
January 13, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I don't know about others (?), but I’ve never been able to listen to the audio versions of my books—too cringe-y to hear my own words. But I've been told that the reader of "Help Wanted" is terrific, & so I'm especially happy to see this: open.spotify.com/playlist/37i... cc @wwnorton.bsky.social