Literature

Farley Granger and Jeanne Crain star in 'The Gift of the Magi', one of five stories by O Henry grouped together under the title of 'O Henry's Full House.'

The History of O. Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi'

The beloved Christmas short story may have been dashed off on deadline but its core message has endured

The 1966 Honda CB77, or Super Hawk, that Robert Pirsig rode on his 1968 trip from Minnesota to California that inspired the book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The Cycle From 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' Comes to the Smithsonian

The 1966 Honda Super Hawk featured in Robert Pirsig’s book on values was recently acquired by the National Museum of American History

On Christmas Eve 1869, a bird-related incident ruffled Charles Dickens' feathers.

Charles Dickens Lost His Last Christmas Turkey to a Freak Fire

A rediscovered letter reveals the famed author forgave the railway company that botched his holiday delivery

Louisa May Alcott is no longer regarded as a sentimental author for girls, but as a pioneering writer of the first rank.

The New 'Little Women' Brings Louisa May Alcott's Real Life to the Big Screen

More so than in previous film adaptations, writer and director Greta Gerwig weaves the American writer's own experiences into the classic story

Maya Angelou’s breakthrough memoir, published 50 years ago, launched a revolution in literature and social awareness.

Published More Than 50 Years Ago, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' Launched a Revolution

Maya Angelou’s breakthrough memoir forever changed American literature and helped carve a new space for black self-expression

William Shakespeare (left) and John Fletcher (right) both contributed to Henry VIII, a new study suggests.

Artificial Intelligence Reveals Second Playwright’s Contributions to Shakespeare’s 'Henry VIII'

Scholars have long suspected the play, written in 1613, was a collaborative effort. Now, an algorithm has mapped out who wrote what

“The guide I have spoken of is the only one we have had yet who knew anything,” Twain reported in the Venice chapter of the book.

The Museum Tour Guide Who Shaped Mark Twain’s Views on Race

While traveling in Venice for what would be his best-selling memoir, the author’s encounter with an African-American art expert forever changed his writing

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2019

What to read when you’ve been bitten by the travel bug

The 19-page volume features three original stories, advertisements and a table of contents.

Miniature Manuscript Penned by Teenaged Charlotte Brontë Will Return to Author’s Childhood Home

The tiny volume, one of six created for a series, will now join four surviving counterparts on view at the Brontë Parsonage Museum

A golden ring once given as a present by the famed Irish writer Oscar Wilde has been recovered by a Dutch "art detective" nearly 20 years after it was stolen from Britain's Oxford University.

Art Detective Tracks Down Oscar Wilde's Stolen Friendship Ring

Authorities previously believed the ring, taken from Oxford in 2002, was melted down by an individual unaware of its true significance

Representatives of the American Library Association deliver a petition protesting new e-book limitations to Macmillan Publishers.

Why New Restrictions on Library E-Book Access Are Generating Controversy

Macmillan Publishers will only allow libraries to purchase one copy of an e-book during the first eight weeks following publication

Alec Baldwin as Moses Randolph and Edward Norton as Lionel Essrog in Motherless Brooklyn.

Edward Norton on Why He Placed ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ in Robert Moses’ New York

The actor, director and screenwriter brings Jonathan Lethem's acclaimed novel to the screen—with a few unsubtle changes

Ernesto Guevara cruises by an image of his father on a building in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution, one of the larges public squares in the world.

Roaring Through Cuba With Che Guevara's Son

What's Ernesto Guevara, son of the world's most recognizable revolutionary, doing on a Harley Davidson? Leading a whirlwind tour around his native island

Deadly perils awaited prospectors who flocked to the Yukon. In April 1898, on a single day, 65 men on the Chilkoot Trail died in an avalanche. Typhoid also took its toll.

Gold Fever! Deadly Cold! And the Amazing True Adventures of Jack London in the Wild

In 1897, the California native went to the frozen North looking for gold. What he found instead was the great American novel

J.D. Salinger (center left with his hand on his chin) on the deck of the M.S. Kungsholm, 1941

Get a Rare Peek Into the Life of Reclusive Writer J.D. Salinger

A new exhibition at the New York Public Library includes never-before-seen photographs, letters and manuscripts

“The poor Girls & their Teeth!” the author wrote in a letter to her sister. “ ... Lizzy’s were filed & lamented over again & poor Marianne had two taken out after all"

This Jane Austen Letter Highlights the Horrors of 19th-Century Dentistry

The missive, penned after the author accompanied her nieces on a visit to the dentist, will be up for auction later this month

The team hypothesized that works published during the so-called “good old days” would be more uplifting than those penned during times of hardship

What Millions of Books Reveal About 200 Years of Happiness

Researchers analyzed eight million texts to gauge how lifespan, warfare and the economy affect national well-being

Joint winners Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo attend the 2019 Booker Prize Winner Announcement at the Guildhall in London

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo Win the 2019 Booker Prize

Some critics are lamenting that Evaristo, the first black woman to receive the award, has to share it

Olga Tokarczuk won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, while Peter Handke was awarded this year's prize

Nobel Prizes in Literature Awarded to Olga Tokarczuk and Peter Handke

Last year's Nobel Prize in Literature was postponed following a sexual assault scandal involving members of the Swedish Academy

La Bodeguita del Medio, where Hemingway preferred to drink his mojitos.

Follow Ernest Hemingway’s Footsteps Through Havana

Sixty-five years after nabbing a Nobel, many of Papa Hemingway’s favorite haunts are still open to the public

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