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Literature

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Spotlight

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As Long As Books Have Existed, Invisibility Has Been a Dream

We just have to look to literature to learn that there’s always been a real danger to the prospect of being invisible

The little death in Venice: Casanova was forced to flee his beloved home town twice (the San Cassiano Canal).

Who Was Casanova?

The personal memoir of history’s most famous lover reveals a misunderstood intellectual who befriended the likes of Ben Franklin

Ellen "Nelly" Ternan, in 1870, was a figure lost to history.

Dickens’ Secret Affair

Biographer Claire Tomalin’s literary sleuthing revealed the untold story of the famed author’s “invisible woman”

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The Story of the Decade

The future may look bleak for many Americans, but hope is always just around the corner

Kenko had little trouble living with the idea that things were getting worse. "The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty," he wrote.

The Timeless Wisdom of Kenko

A 14th-century Japanese essayist’s advice for troubled times runs the gamut from quirky to prescient

Latino writer Martín Espada is one of many mentioned in The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature who say Walt Whitman influenced them and consider him as a godfather.

What Defines Latino Literature?

In compiling the latest anthology in the Norton series, professor Ilan Stavans researched the themes explored by Latino authors

Literature, says poet, novelist and playwright Rita Dove, will look "for different ways to distinguish itself from mass media."

Rita Dove on the Future of Literature

The Pulitzer-Prize winning poet discusses how new technologies will affect the creative process

Two centuries after Shakespeare's death, a lowly law clerk named William Henry Ireland forged the Bard's signature and a seal that convinced skeptics.

To Be…Or Not: The Greatest Shakespeare Forgery

William-Henry Ireland committed a scheme so grand that he fooled even himself into believing he was William Shakespeare’s true literary heir

The new edition of Ernest Hemingway's fictionalized memoir, A Moveable Feast, features adjustments made to the original text that was edited by Hemingway's fourth wife, Mary.

A New Taste of Hemingway’s Moveable Feast

The re-edited version of Ernest Hemingway’s Paris-based memoir sheds new light on the heartbreaking breakup of his first marriage

In the Spoken Word recording, John Steinbeck recounts how he came up with the idea for The Grapes of Wrath.

Voices from Literature’s Past

The British Library’s Spoken Word albums of recordings by British and American writers shed new light on the authors’ work

We don't have a town center, Alvarez says, but we're "rich in characters and talents."

Julia Alvarez on Weybridge, VT

Other towns get more attention says novelist Julia Alvarez, but this is a place where things get done

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The Million Word March

What defines a word? Lexicographers and other experts don’t always agree

History’s “Global Languages”

Erin Gann as Xerxes and Helen Carey as Atossa in the Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of Aeschylus' "The Persians," a new version by Ellen McLaughlin, directed by Ethan McSweeny.

The Persians Revisited

A 2,500-year-old Greek historical play remains eerily contemporary

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Interview: Eric G. Wilson

Why the pursuit of happiness naturally includes melancholy

A carving of the tale of Gilgamesh

Lost Treasure

In Gilgamesh, scholars unearthed literary gold

Rossetti identified the subject of his Lady Lilith painting as Adam's first wife—"the witch he loved before the gift of Eve." The work (1866-68) was altered in 1872-73 to please patron Frederick Leyland. The original model was Rossetti's lover Fanny Cornforth.

Incurably Romantic

For much of the 20th century, Britain’s Pre-Raphaelite were dismissed as overly sentimental. A new exhibition shows why they’re back in favor

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Odyssey’s End?: The Search for Ancient Ithaca

A British researcher believes he has at last pinpointed the island to which Homer’s wanderer returned

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Goya and His Women

An exhibition at Washington’s National Gallery of Art takes a fresh look at one of Spain’s most celebrated artists and the women he painted

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