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Literature

Odysseus and Polyphemus, Arnold Böcklin, 1896

Was There Ever an Original Version of ‘The Odyssey,’ and Do We Need to Worry About What Homer Would Think?

The earliest surviving fragments of the epic poem—the subject of Christopher Nolan’s latest Hollywood blockbuster—date back more than 2,000 years. But oral storytelling about a hero named Odysseus is much older

Actor Paul Newman lounges on a pool table reading Star Warriors in this ALA READ campaign poster. 

Vintage ‘READ’ Posters Adorning Libraries and Classrooms for Decades Go on Auction as the American Library Association Turns 150

Taylor Swift, Serena Williams and famous fictional characters lent their iconic faces to encourage people to pick up a book

A 1488 edition of the Odyssey, photographed by Naomi Wenger

The ‘Odyssey,’ One of the World’s Oldest Stories, Gets a Modern Spin With A.I.-Generated Audiobook Narration by the Voice Clone of an Oscar Winner

Meanwhile, other actors are pushing back against the use of artificial intelligence in creative projects, including through a new “human consent” registry tool

In 1847, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were published together in three volumes.

The First Edition of Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ Contained Incorrect Page Numbers, Missing Punctuation and Three Misspellings of the Word ‘Heights’

The haunting story set against the Yorkshire moors would become one of the most renowned novels of the 19th century. Now, a rare first-edition copy is heading to auction

The author and abolitionist, surrounded by silhouette renderings of vignettes from her vivid, world-changing novel.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Harriet Beecher Stowe Wrote a Work of Fiction That Seemed So Real That It Changed the History of the Country

To fight against slavery, the author collected true stories then picked up a pen and distilled them into “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

A portrait of Fuller, inspired by her 1845 Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which argued for equality of the sexes. The book’s opening illustration featured mystical symbols of harmonizing opposites, including the Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Born in 1810, Margaret Fuller Was Labeled a Child Prodigy. She Later Used Her Intellect to Ask Important Questions About Women’s Role in America

Her writing posed the novel premise: What does it mean to be a woman? Her early death meant she never saw the movement she inspired

Partial view of Eurasian blackbird, Missy Dunaway, acrylic ink on paper

Shakespeare Referenced Dozens of Bird Species in His Work. This Artist Has Made It Her Mission to Paint Them All

Missy Dunaway’s colorful illustrations combine natural history, folklore and literature to depict the Bard’s birds

The illuminated manuscript's illustrations contain precious metals.

See the Stunning Medieval Manuscript Telling Tales of King Arthur, in Ink and Polished Gold, That’s Headed to Auction

The manuscript was made by a skilled, anonymous artist between 1290 and 1310. It’s the oldest of only three privately owned Vulgate Cycle manuscripts

William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies

‘Lord of the Flies’ Comes to Television for the First Time in a New Miniseries. In the 1950s, the Now-Famous Novel Almost Never Got Published

Publishers rejected the original manuscript for “Lord of the Flies” many times, yet the story still sparks a buzz today. Author William Golding later won the Nobel Prize in Literature

Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends live in a case at the New York Public Library.

The Real Winnie-the-Pooh Lives at the New York Public Library. When Queen Camilla Visited the Bear, She Reunited Him With a Dear Friend

On a state visit to the United States this week, the queen of the United Kingdom became the first British royal to visit the library as she fulfilled a mission to complete the set of toys that Christopher Robin once owned

The page of the manuscript in Rome that contains “Caedmon’s Hymn”

Cool Finds

Researchers Discovered a Lost Copy of the Oldest English Poem, Composed by an Illiterate Cowherd More Than 1,300 Years Ago

This version of “Caedmon’s Hymn” shows how Old English evolved. It also features early use of a punctuation mark that readers of English take for granted today—the period—but not in the expected way

The papyrus fragment with a passage from Homer's Iliad

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth a Papyrus Fragment From the ‘Iliad’ Tucked Inside the Wrappings of a 1,600-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy

The excerpt from Homer’s epic poem features his catalog of ships, a famous passage listing the Greek forces that sailed to Troy. It may be the first Greek literary text found in the context of mummification

The typewritten lyrics were found on a torn piece of paper measuring roughly eight by seven inches.

Cool Finds

Bob Dylan’s Original Typewritten Draft Lyrics for ‘I’m Not There’ Have Been Rediscovered After More Than Half a Century

For decades, eager fans could only hear the obscure song on bootleg vinyl recordings. The draft lyrics, which were found inside a first-edition copy of Allen Ginsberg poetry, just sold at auction for $6,800

In addition to 54 poems, John Keats wrote some three dozen love letters to his fiancée, Fanny Brawne. Joseph Severn painted this portrait of the poet in 1819.

Cool Finds

After a Poet’s Love Story Was Cut Short, His Letters Mysteriously Disappeared—Until Rare Book Dealers Acted on a Hunch

Eight letters that John Keats penned to his fiancée before his untimely death are “the literary find of a lifetime”

Wishbone ready for his close-up

In the 1990s, a Dog Taught Kids About Shakespeare and Homer. A New Documentary Tells the Tale of ‘Wishbone’—From His Backflips to His Historical Hats

The film reunites the human cast and crew who saw the potential of a Jack Russell terrier to bring classic literature to life on PBS

The three-part BBC series is scheduled to air later this year.

Charles Dickens Searched the Streets of London and Found Inspiration for His Evocative Fiction

A three-part BBC series will examine how real events shaped the 19th-century British author’s writing. The show is part of the National Year of Reading in the U.K.

A 1931 statue of the d'Artagnan in southwestern France

Cool Finds

Does This Skeleton Found Beneath a Dutch Church Belong to D’Artagnan, the Man Who Inspired ‘The Three Musketeers’?

Workers discovered the skeleton during recent repair work at the church in Maastricht. D’Artagnan died during the siege of the city in 1673

A sperm whale swimming near the Azores archipelago, off the coast of Portugal

Scientists Capture the First Known Footage of Sperm Whales Headbutting, a Long-Debated Behavior That Inspired ‘Moby-Dick’

Engaging in “rough play” might help young males practice for future headbutting contests in which they compete for mates

Toni Morrison in Milan, November 1994

A New Book of Toni Morrison’s University Lectures, Now Collected for the First Time, Shares Some of the Legendary Novelist’s Most Important Lessons

At Princeton, the author analyzed the depictions of Blackness in the works of canonical American authors

An equestrian portrait of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas

Based on a True Story

The Real Count of Monte Cristo Was Alexandre Dumas’s Father, a Trailblazing Black General

Ahead of the March 22 premiere of a new TV adaptation, learn about the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the French Army officer who inspired the beloved novel

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