The Dogs Who Haunt Edith Wharton’s Home

By Ellen Girardeau Kempler

October 27, 2014

The Mount is claimed to be the site of various ghost-sightings; why are some canine-related?

Driving Umberto Eco, and the Line Between Writer and Writing

By Daniel Genis

October 17, 2014

Meeting the Italian writer at the airport and running into an anonymous porn reviewer both reveal the relationship between author and work.

THEY Wrote THAT?! Halloween Tales from Classic Authors

By Emily Ruth Verona

October 08, 2014

Fitzgerald, Alcott, Forster — they’re best known for their novels, but don’t overlook the grim novellas and short stories.

How D.H. Lawrence and World War I Saved Moby-Dick

By Eric Williams

September 30, 2014

Reconsidering the literary landscape in the wake of the Great War, Lawrence rescued Herman Melville’s now venerated novel from absolute obscurity.

“The Most Splendid Failure” – William Faulkner on The Sound and the Fury

By J. Francis Wolfe

September 24, 2014

Now hailed as a masterpiece, Faulkner's novel was initially written off by the public and the author himself. Why?

Philip Roth vs. Saul Bellow

By Mike Mariani

September 23, 2014

What can the differences between the two teach us about post-World War II American literature?

H. G. Wells’s Predictions: The Right, the Wrong and the Ugly

By Benjamin Welton

September 19, 2014

As a founder of science fiction, Wells got a surprising share the future right. He also got some things very, very wrong.

How Roald Dahl Prepares Us for the Hardships of Adulthood

By Nicholas Laskin

September 18, 2014

The renowned children’s author undoubtedly has a way with words, but he’s also a master of confronting the difficulties of life.

Charles Dickens on "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

By Cath Murphy

September 17, 2014

The classic Victorian novelist reviews the recent YA best-seller.

Ken Kesey’s Exhausted Heroes

By J. Francis Wolfe

September 17, 2014

Randle Patrick McMurphy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Hank Stamper of Sometimes a Great Notion: two men of incredible strength whom Kesey brings to their knees. Why?