When biographer Gretchen Gerzina came across an old British newspaper article calling Sarah E. Farro “the first negro novelist,” she wondered: who was Farro, and why had she been lost to history?
Both Hamlet and ‘True Detective’‘s Rust Cohle make audiences wonder whether they’re deserving of sympathy or blame.
Nick Lehr/The Conversation
The psychological complexity of Shakespeare’s characters has rendered them timeless. Today, we see The Bard’s influence in shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘True Detective.’
A whole world lies in these pages.
www.shutterstock.com/Sunny studio
Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel ‘It Can’t Happen Here,’ which described the rise of an American dictator, was turned into a play seen by over 500,000 people.
‘All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost’ - ancient Elvish verse of prophecy.
Shutterstock/Serhii Bobyk
A poor review doesn’t make for a bad book. But a good one doesn’t make for a good one either.
Let’s critique the literary canon, but we shouldn’t throw the Brontës out with the bathwater.
The Brontë Sisters, by Patrick Branwell Brontë, circa 1834.
Like it or not, the literary canon is part of the cultural capital of the West. Universities that choose not to teach it – or refuse to critically engage with it – are actually disempowering students.
Discworld is a wildly inventive literary creation that sprawls over dozens of books.
David Skinner
This Saturday it will be a year since Alzheimer’s stole Terry Pratchett from the world. We mark the occasion with a beginner’s guide to his most enduring creation, the 41-book Discworld series.
Umberto Eco, who has died aged 84.
Reuters/Andrea Comas
The perception of publishing as a business, even a creative one, means that the question of book sales dominates our conversations about it. But publishing offers far more to our culture than that.
Former British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes.
The Spectator
After Jonathan Bate, in his recent biography of Ted Hughes, wrote about Hughes’ salacious sex life, a number of critics – including Janet Malcolm – were quick to pounce.
Jane Austen horror has burgeoned into a distinctive subgenre of adaptations.
Kevin Harber
England’s green and pleasant land will be beset by a plague of the living dead, corpses will dig their way out of graves … Jane Austen horror is now a distinctive subgenre of Austen adaptations.
The foot is the basic unit for what we consider to be romantic and beautiful: poetry.
Khánh Hmoong
Poetic terminology can be alienating, off-putting. Whispering “dactylic hexameter” in people’s ears won’t necessarily tempt them into reading heroic verse. But there is hope – and poetry – for us all.
Kitty-in-Boots.
Image courtesy Frederick Warne & Co / the V&A Museum
What can we expect from this newly discovered manuscript from a much-beloved author?
On the anniversary of his death, we reflect on how J. D. Salinger’s writing first influenced the world and how it continues to do so now.
July Morning | RU
Today marks six years since celebrated writer J. D. Salinger died at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire, at the age of 91. But his influence remains well and truly alive.
Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who died in 2013, wrote stories that offer students from all disciplines valuable insights about the world they want to fix one day.
EPA/Frank May
At the time of publication, the longevity of Jane Austen’s fifth novel Emma was far from guaranteed. And yet, 200 years later, it now seems immortal. This is the story of its remarkable life.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has engaged fans on, among other things, how to pronounce Voldemort’s name.
Reuters/Eliana Aponte
JK Rowling should have stated clearly in her books the nature of the characters rather than doing so after their publication through, for example, media interviews.
In order to support his young family, William Faulkner took a job shoveling coal at a power plant on Ole Miss’s campus.
Mussklprozz/Wikimedia Commons
Slated to be demolished this year, a crumbling brick building on Ole Miss’ campus once operated as a power plant where novelist William Faulkner shoveled coal – and feverishly wrote.