Laura Miller (writer)

Last updated
Laura Miller
NationalityAmerican
Occupationjournalist
Known forco-founder of Salon.com

Laura Miller is an American journalist and critic based in New York City. She is a co-founder of Salon.com. [1]

Contents

Early life

Miller was raised as a Catholic and grew up in California. She has since said she deplores the Church's "guilt-mongering and tedious rituals." [2]

Career

In 1995, Miller helped to co-found the news website Salon.com, [1] and in 2000 she edited The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors with Adam Begley. [3]

In 2008 she authored The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia, a book about C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy series, her enchantment with it as a child, and her disenchantment with it as an adult after realizing its heavy use of religious themes. [4] In 2016, Miller edited Literary Wonderlands , a literary encyclopedia chronicling the history of fiction. [5]

She is Slate's Books and Culture columnist. [6]

Reception

Gary L. Tandy in Christianity and Literature called The Magician's book "Laura Miller's unique and intriguing extended essay about her experience as a lifelong reader of C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia." He commented that the book is made interesting by the uneven course of her "love affair" with Lewis's writing; he notes that she admits she is not a Christian, despite her Catholic upbringing. She was therefore surprised to find that when as an adult she re-read the Narnia books, they had not lost their power, prompting her to write this book to explain why. In the book she both reflects on her own experience and interviews other authors and friends on the subject. [7]

John D. Riley, writing in Against the Grain, described Literary Wonderlands as both "a checklist and guide to essential utopian, dystopian and speculative fiction that you have always been meaning to read" and "a valuable scholarly look back at familiar books and a fresh look forward to more adventurous reading in the future." The reviewer praised the attention to detail in the analyses of the various works, and found the way the book set the works in context was useful and interesting. [8]

Bibliography

Books

  • Miller, Laura (2008). The magician's book : a skeptic's adventures in Narnia. Little, Brown.
  • (2016). Literary wonderlands : a journey through the greatest fictional worlds ever created. Black Dog & Leventhal.

Essays, reporting and other contributions

Notes

  1. Online version is titled "Paul Auster's novel of chance".
  2. Online version is titled "Jeff VanderMeer amends the apocalypse".
  3. Online version is titled "'Golden Hill' : a crackerjack novel of old Manhattan".
  4. Online version is titled "'Tangerine' : a début novel that delights in excess".
  5. Online version is titled "A twisted fairy tale about toxic masculinity".
  6. Online version is titled "A début novel remixes the trope of the missing girl".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Auster</span> American writer and film director

Paul Benjamin Auster is an American writer and film director. His notable works include The New York Trilogy (1987), Moon Palace (1989), The Music of Chance (1990), The Book of Illusions (2002), The Brooklyn Follies (2005), Invisible (2009), Sunset Park (2010), Winter Journal (2012), and 4 3 2 1 (2017). His books have been translated into more than forty languages.

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia</i> Series of childrens fantasy novels by C. S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia has been adapted for radio, television, the stage, film, and video games. The series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts and talking animals. It narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the Narnian world. Except in The Horse and His Boy, the protagonists are all children from the real world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are sometimes called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil. The books span the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in The Magician's Nephew to its eventual destruction in The Last Battle.

<i>The Magicians Nephew</i> Childrens fantasy novel by C. S. Lewis, 1955

The Magician's Nephew is a portal fantasy children's novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). In recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history, it is volume one of the series. Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes whose work has been retained in many later editions. The Bodley Head was a new publisher for The Chronicles, a change from Geoffrey Bles who had published the previous five novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Jackson</span> American novelist, short-story writer (1916–1965)

Shirley Hardie Jackson was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Over the duration of her writing career, which spanned over two decades, she composed six novels, two memoirs, and more than 200 short stories.

<i>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i> 1950 childrens fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a portal fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Among all the author's books, it is also the most widely held in libraries. It was the first of The Chronicles of Narnia to be written and published, but is marked as volume two in recent editions that are sequenced according the stories' internal chronology. Like the other Chronicles, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaica Kincaid</span> Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer

Jamaica Kincaid is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John's, Antigua. She lives in North Bennington, Vermont and is Professor of African and African American Studies in Residence at Harvard University during the academic year.

<i>A Readers Manifesto</i> 2002 book by B. R. Myers

A Reader's Manifesto is a 2002 book by B. R. Myers expanded from his essay in the July/August 2001 issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine. Myers criticized what he saw as the growing pretentiousness of contemporary American literary fiction, especially in contrast to genre fiction.

Stacey D'Erasmo is an American author and literary critic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramandu's daughter</span> Fictional character in Narnia

Ramandu's daughter, also known as Lilliandil in the 2010 film version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is a fictional character from The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Introduced in the 1952 book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, she aids Caspian X and the crew of Dawn Treader to break an enchantment on three of the Seven Great Lords of Narnia. Eventually she becomes Queen of Narnia, after marrying Caspian X, and bears his son, Rilian. In the 1953 novel The Silver Chair, the Lady of the Green Kirtle, in the form of a snake, kills her though she later reappears in the 1956 book The Last Battle. The character appears in multiple adaptations of the book series; the television serial The Chronicles of Narnia, where she is portrayed by Gabrielle Anwar, and The Chronicles of Narnia film series, where Laura Brent plays the role.

Keith A. Gessen is a Russian-born American novelist, journalist, and literary translator. He is co-founder and co-editor of American literary magazine n+1 and an assistant professor of journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In 2008 he was named a "5 under 35" honoree by the National Book Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elif Batuman</span> American writer and academic (born 1977)

Elif Batuman is an American author, academic, and journalist. She is the author of three books: a memoir, The Possessed, and the novels The Idiot, which was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and Either/Or. Batuman is a staff writer for The New Yorker.

Adam C. Begley is an American biographer. He was the books editor for The New York Observer from 1996 to 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathryn Schulz</span> American journalist and author

Kathryn Schulz is an American journalist and author. She is a staff writer at The New Yorker. In 2016, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for her article on the risk of a major earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific Northwest. In 2023, she won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography.

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages. The series borrows characters and ideas from Classical, Norse, Irish, Arthurian, Islamic, Jewish and Christian mythology. Of all the mythologies taken into consideration, the Christian one is the most fundamental for the Narnia series, due to the themes covered.

<i>The Marriage Plot</i> Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Marriage Plot is a 2011 novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides. The novel grew out of a manuscript that Eugenides began after the publication of his sophomore Pulitizer Prize-winning novel, Middlesex. Eugenides has stated that he worked on the novel for about five or six years, and that portions are loosely based on his collegiate and post-collegiate experiences. The book is both a realist story about marriage and a commentary on the kind of story it tells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin Morgenstern</span> American novelist

Erin Morgenstern is an American multimedia artist and the author of two fantasy novels. The Night Circus (2011) was published in more than a dozen languages by 2013 and won the annual Locus Award for Best First Novel. She is a 2012 recipient of an Alex Award. Her second book, The Starless Sea, was published in 2019.

<i>4 3 2 1</i> (novel) Novel by Paul Auster

4 3 2 1 is a novel by Paul Auster published in January 2017. At the time of its publication, it was the first new Auster novel to have appeared in seven years. Auster worked on the book seven days a week for three years and wrote it in long hand. At 866 pages, the novel is much longer than any of his previous works. In September 2017 it was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.

<i>Literary Wonderlands</i> 2016 book by Laura Miller

Literary Wonderlands: A Journey Through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created is a 2016 book edited by Laura Miller, co-founder of Salon.com. It is a compendium of "lands that exist only in the imagination," and covers 2,000 years of literary creation. For each work, an entry provides historical context, plot summary, and author biography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merve Emre</span> Turkish-American author, academic, and literary critic

Merve Emre is a Turkish-American author, academic, and literary critic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Thurman</span> American writer

Judith Thurman is an American writer, biographer, and critic. She is the recipient of the 1983 National Book Award for nonfiction for her biography Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller. Her book Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette was a finalist for the 1999 nonfiction National Book Award. In 2016, she received the medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.

References

  1. 1 2 "Reviewers & Critics: Laura Miller of Slate". Poets & Writers. 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  2. "The Magician's Book Conjures the Magic of Narnia by Review-a-Day". www.powells.com. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  3. "The Millions: The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors by Laura Miller" . Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  4. Miller, Laura (2017-06-27). The Magician's Book. ISBN   9780316040266.
  5. Greer, Andrew Sean (Dec 2, 2016). "Great Fictional Worlds From the Past 2,000 Years". The New York Times . Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  6. "Laura Miller". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  7. Tandy, Gary L. (2010). "The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller (review)". Christianity & Literature. 60 (1): 184–187. Project MUSE   739087.
  8. Riley, John D. (November 2017). "Wryly Noted-Books About Books". Against the Grain. 29 (5). doi: 10.7771/2380-176X.7845 .