Literary Sins
Literary Sins
August 4, 2026 | Essays by Carey Baraka, Sabrina Jaszi, Anna Juul, Karim Kattan, Ahmed Naji, Francesco Pacifico, and Imogen West-Knights
The Confessional
Usually, the machinery of editing is designed to erase mistakes eliminate any trace of error. In our publication, the standard operating procedure is a rigorous gauntlet:
- Copy-editing for grammar
- Fact-checking for accuracy
- Scrutiny for clarity
For an editor, admitting a fault or issuing a correction is a moment of profound shame. However, we began to wonder if there is a hidden utility in deviating from the norm. In an era of forced homogeneity, perhaps a "literary sin" is actually the clearest evidence of a unique human spirit.
Seven of our writers decided to open their diaries and reveal their secret transgressions.
I. The Linguistic Kleptomaniac
Contributor: Ahmed Naji
"At thirteen, I developed a craving for theft—specifically, stealing from other authors."
It began during a childhood fever. While bedridden, Naji's grandfather left him a book of poetry (likely the works of Omar Khayyam, known for themes of ). Naji didn't just read the poems; he transcribed them. This evolved into a lifelong addiction to "literary jewelry."
He describes his process as wandering through libraries not to read stories, but to find:
- Blazing sentences
- Novel styles
- Obscure vocabulary
He views these as "pebbles" leading to "diamonds." For instance, he recently "stole" the phrase: “Pods of the laburnum at nine in the morning.” This phrase taught him about the Laburnum tree—its golden spring blooms and autumn pods—providing a perfect metaphor for his own work.
While he keeps the identity of his victims secret, he follows a philosophy of absorption:
Though he feels chased by the "ghosts" of those he robbed, he maintains a list of these writers in his books as a form of gratitude.
II. The Comma Girlie
Contributor: Anna Juul
Anna’s sin is a structural one: she harbors a deep-seated aversion to the full stop. She identifies as a "comma girlie," preferring a stream-of-consciousness style where thoughts bleed into one another without the "filter" of a period, mirroring the way she thinks and speaks, which often leads to long, winding asides where the original point is lost entirely, though she eventually submits to her editor's authority when told she is moving too fast.
The "Logic" of Anna's Prose:
while (thinking) { write(sentence); add(comma); continue(); } // No break;
She recalls a period of manic intensity while writing a book, during which she felt an intellectual kinship with figures like Aristotle and Jesus. She even attempted to quit smoking "cold turkey" based on the logic that Jesus would have done so, given the lack of nicotine gum in the first century. Despite her brilliance, the world continued to insist she use full stops.
III. The Crisis of Trust
Contributor: Francesco Pacifico
Pacifico confesses to a loss of faith. He no longer grants authors an automatic "blank check" of trust. If a sentence feels contrived or a flourish feels unearned, the illusion shatters.
| The Old Way | The New Way |
|---|---|
| Unquestioning trust in the author's vision | Immediate skepticism of "prepared" sentences |
| Acceptance of narrative convenience | Rejection of "dishonest" reality-twisting |
| Passive consumption | Active, critical scrutiny |
He notes that even masters like Woolf or Balzac occasionally twist reality to fit a moral narrative. While he still cherishes the authors who raised him, he can no longer tolerate a sense of betrayal in a text. Paradoxically, he can still spend weeks worshipping a single, perfect page—treating it with the reverence one might give a grandmother or a favorite bakery.
IV. The War on Efficiency
Contributor: (French-language writer)
In English circles, the golden rule is "Show, Don't Tell." In the French tradition, the focus is often on the ciselées (chiseled) sentence. However, the writer notes a modern obsession with efficiency that feels more like production than art.
.modern-novel {
plot: tight;
characters: coherent;
gaps: patched;
style: efficient;
}
The writer argues that the modern novel is being forced into the mold of a "well-crafted miniseries," where every plot hole must be filled and every character must be logically consistent, stripping the medium of its natural mystery.
Gallery of Literary Transgressions
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