The complexities of history and the narratives we create for ourselves are impressively evoked in Simeon Marsalis‘s novel As Lie Is to Grin. David, the novel’s protagonist, finds himself dealing with a series of evocative and unsettling pasts, from the unsettling history of the college he’s attending to the winding pasts of the artists he finds compelling. It’s a gripping novel, precisely and evocatively structured. I talked with Marsalis about the creation of the book and its connection to other […]