Literature

It took Leo Tolstoy six years to write War and Peace.

There’s a ‘War and Peace’ Marathon Going On in Russia

It will take 1,300 readers four days and 60 hours to read the book out loud

This 19th-century cartoon depicts a corpse brought back to life through the power of "galvanism."

How Twitching Frog Legs Helped Inspire 'Frankenstein'

Galvanism sought to reanimate the dead—and in doing so provided the impetus for one of literature's most famously frightful books

In 1856, a Nantucket sailor sketched the killing of his crew’s “100-barrel” prize.

How Nantucket Came to Be the Whaling Capital of the World

Ron Howard's new film "In the Heart of the Sea" captures the greed and blood lust of the Massachusetts island

John Steinbeck

Steinbeck’s Boat the "Western Flyer" Will Voyage Again for Science

The $1 million boat will see the water once again as an updated research vessel

A Lost Story by Edith Wharton Has Been Discovered in Yale's Library

"The Field of Honor" is about a failed marriage during World War I

The house of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the "Little House on the Prairie" books

The Science of "Little House on the Prairie"

A mutual passion for Laura Ingalls Wilder inspired scientists in unrelated disciplines to investigate events from the famous author's world

"We pass from one realm of water to another," Brodsky told the author during their late-night walk through the city, which lasted until the first rays of dawn glinted over the sea.

The City Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky Called Paradise

A journalist recalls his witching-hour walk through Venice with the famous poet

5 Things to Know About Svetlana Alexievich, Winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature

The Belarusian journalist is best known for her tragic investigations of war and disaster in eastern Europe

Supreme Court Justices Have a Thing for Shakespeare

The brief's the thing

Alice with Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Disney's 1951 film

After Giving Us a New Spin on Oz, Gregory Maguire Takes on Wonderland

Alice is 150 years old, and the world is still wondering about her

Hemingway enters New York Harbor with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, aboard the ocean liner Paris on April 3, 1934. He described her as “clever and entertaining and full of desire.”

Hemingway in Love

In a new memoir, one of Hemingway's closest friends reveals how the great writer grappled with the love affair that changed his life and shaped his art

Scaled back so no two books share a page, the library still has 10 to the power of 4,677 books.

This Digital Library Contains Every Phrase That Could Ever Be Uttered

Inspired by an essay by Jorge Luis Borges, computer programmer Jonathan Basile has created a "Library" of Babel

The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South

A naturalist cuts through the myths surrounding the invasive plant

Robert Frost by Clara Sipprell, gelatin silver print, 1955.

What Gives Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” Its Power?

A Smithsonian poet examines its message and how it encapsulates what its author was all about

What to Expect From Harper Lee’s Long-Lost Second Novel

Controversy still surrounds the release of <i>Go Set a Watchman</i>

Lee's Maycomb, indelibly evoked in the novel that sells a million copies annually, endures in the small-town reality of Monroeville.

What's Changed, and What Hasn't, in the Town That Inspired 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Traveling back in time to visit Harper Lee's hometown, the setting of her 1960 masterpiece and the controversial sequel hitting bookstores soon

Melville joked that Dana’s descriptions of Cape Horn “must have been written with an icicle.”

Before Moby-Dick, There Was "Two Years Before the Mast"

This salty memoir by Richard Henry Dana Jr. was one of America's first literary classics

A sumptuously appointed room within the Borgia family's castle in Tuscany, now available for everyday people to rent.

Want to Sleep Like a King, Queen or Borgia For a Night? Stay in these Historic Airbnbs

Whether it’s the former home of a national icon or an extravagant estate in Europe, the sharing economy offers the chance to go back in time for a night

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, pictured here in 1923, enjoyed using the methods of Sherlock Holmes on real cases.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Once Helped Clear an Innocent Man of Murder

On his birthday, revist the mystery author's most famous case

A stunning, modern wing of the Royal Library of Copenhagen, added in 1999.

The World's Most Interesting (and Accessible) Library Collections

From the Magna Carta to Winnie the Pooh, what you can see at some of the world's great libraries

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