Using the only known painting of Jane Austen to try to find out what killed her.
What killed Jane Austen?
The Real Racist
One thing that pretty much everyone can agree on is that Go Set a Watchman is a controversial book. Our own Michael Bourne said it “fails as a work of art in every way except as a corrective to the standard sentimental reading of Atticus Finch.” At Slate, Dan Kois, Meghan O’Rourke and Katy Waldman debate the main questions the novel raised.
“Hope this is clear”
Here are some things about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle you can learn from this questionnaire: he used the word “ditto;” he reserved his greatest admiration for “men who do their duty without fuss;” and he seems to have been quite happy with being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Revisiting ‘The Decameron’ in Quarantine
Elyse Martin examines how Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron—a collection of "medieval Italian sex stories"—shows that storytelling is integral to our survival.
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“A long, rich and lust-filled tradition”
In the Paris of the late 19th century, the courtesan was “an essential part of the pecking order,” writes Heather Hartley at the Tin House blog.
The Unruly Energy of Ursula K. Le Guin
Colin Burrow reflects on how Ursula K. Le Guin's narrative prowess flourished within the constraints of science fiction and children's literature.
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