Monique Truong and the New Southern Gothic
Truong’s second novel, Bitter in the Mouth, expands the region and the meaning of “the South” in contemporary literature.
Dr. Sex and the Anarchist Sex Cookbook
Known for his runaway bestseller The Joy of Sex, Alex “Dr. Sex” Comfort was an anarchist and a pacifist who preferred love and sex to war crimes.
L. M. Montgomery’s Plain Jane
Though not as well known as Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill also explores domesticity, freedom, and, yes, Prince Edward Island.
When Aldous Huxley Dropped Acid
In Hollywood, the esteemed ex-pat made the acquaintance of Alfred Hubbard, a Kentucky-born smuggler of ill-repute who introduced him to a brave, new world.
Playing It Straight and Catching a Break
Cue games have had a lingering influence on our language and culture—even before the contributions of “Fast Eddie” Felson.
A Selection of Student Confessions
Did you break a campus rule? Let the students of Millersville Normal School show you how to confess to the administration.
“The Crocodile,” Dostoevsky’s Weirdest Short Story
Why being eaten by a crocodile named Little Karl is really a lesson in the dangers of foreign capital.
Writing Online Fiction in China
Many amateur “fan fiction” writers on the Chinese internet use real history as a canvas for time-travel stories that often break the fourth wall.
Nella Larsen’s Lessons in Library School
Larsen’s novels were influenced by her training in the New York Public Library system, where she faced rigid ideas about the racial classification of knowledge.
Dorothy Richardson and the Stream of Consciousness
Though often associated with Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, “stream of consciousness” novels spilled first from the pen of British modernist Dorothy Richardson.