You need to read the Cairo speech, if you haven't. And then you need to see whether it worked, and why.
John Updike's last words, discussed by Julian Barnes — who, now that Updike's dead, is probably our leading literary voice on the fear of death.
A first look at the new Thomas Pynchon novel, as told by Tibor "like your favourite uncle being caught in a school playground, masturbating" Fischer.
Fascinating inside politics, but I would have called this article "The Kundera Kunundrum", myself.
New fiction: Introducing Ted Thompson, in Tin House.
Old clip: George Plimpton for Mattel's Intellivision Baseball.