Moby-Dick is a quintessential Great American Novel, perhaps even the greatest, but it might not be pure fiction. That’s what George Dobbs argues in a piece on “The Real Life Inspirations Behind Moby-Dick” for The Airship. Invention or not, at least we can be thankful no cannibalism sneaked its way onto the Pequod…
A real life Moby-Dick
Little Ones
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“Informational Text” vs. Fiction
“The Common Core State Standards in English, which have been adopted in 46 states and the District, call for public schools to ramp up nonfiction so that by 12th grade students will be reading mostly ‘informational text’ instead of fictional literature,” writes Lyndsey Layton. Is this the end of The Catcher in the Rye?
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New Katherine Mansfield Story Found
While thumbing through the archives at King’s College, a graduate student uncovered four previously unknown stories by Katherine Mansfield.
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Fears of a Nation
Recommended Reading: this loving tribute to James Baldwin in the NYRB.
“A great novel is always felt as a kind of gift”
Millions contributor Brian Ted Jones read through some of Nic Pizzolatto’s written fiction – such as his novel, Galveston – and found that the author dwelled on many of the “same obsessions” as he does in his breakout HBO hit, True Detective.