Sor Juana, Founding Mother of Mexican Literature
How a 17th-century nun wrote poetry, dramas, and comedies that took on the inequities and double standards women faced in society.
The Lonely Hearts of the Algonquin Round Table
The "Vicious Circle" of the Algonquin Round Table included sharp-tongued wits like Dorothy Parker and Alexander Woollcott. But it wasn't always vicious.
The Filipino Novel That Reimagined Neocolonial Gender
Revisiting an essential Asian American work, beloved for its synthesis of neocolonialism, postmodernism, and central queer and female characters.
The Dubious Art of the Dad Joke
Is it really only dads who can tell dad jokes? And is this corny humor universal? Our linguist takes a deep dive.
William Blake, Radical Abolitionist
Blake’s works offer an alternative to the failures of the Enlightenment, which couldn’t muster a consistent argument for abolition.
Walt Whitman, America’s Phrenologist
The pseudoscience of phrenology included a notion of body as text that Whitman loved. But the craze of "bumpology" also had a darker side.
The Life of Forgotten Poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon
She was known as the "female Byron." So why doesn't anyone read L.E.L. anymore?
The Posthumous Mystique of Thomas Chatterton
He died young of suicide and became the quintessence of the tormented poet. But his death may have been an accident, and his greatest work, forgeries.
What The Great Gatsby Reveals About The Jazz Age
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel embraced jazz, while also falling prey to the racist caricatures associated with it.