Chris Kraus, Ben Eastham, and Elvia Wilk on the Blurred Line Between Criticism and Fiction

In an engaging dialogue, novelists and critics Chris Kraus, Ben Eastham, and Elvia Wilk explore the phenomenon of critics venturing into fiction. Kraus, known for her work I Love Dick (1997) and as co-editor at Semiotext(e), observes that most critics also engage in writing fiction. Eastham, who serves as editor of e-flux Criticism, is set to release his first novel, The Floating World, on Sept. 29, which tells the story of a widowed art critic. Wilk, a Sarah Lawrence College instructor, authored Oval and is working on Diagnosis, due in Feb. 2027. They discuss the lineage of critic-novelists, citing figures like John Banville and George Steiner, while Kraus links softer criticism to genre deprofessionalization. Last May, Mark von Schlegell chose to publish a novel rather than a catalog essay.