Did Victorians Really Get Brain Fever?
The melodramatic descriptions of "fevers" in old novels reveal just how frightening the time before modern medicine must have been.
Flannery O’Connor’s Moments of Grace
Flannery O'Connor employed grotesqueness and violence in her stories to illustrate the workings of grace on her characters.
Kathleen Rooney’s Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
Move over flâneur, here comes the flâneuse, the female version of the famous French walkers.
A New Novel Explores Art Theft, History, and Child Refugees
Ellen Umansky's novel The Fortunate Ones explores the psychological fallout of the World War II Kindertransport, which moved child refugees to England.
When Language Can Cure What Ails You
Healthy talk is often promoted as the way for us to become even better humans. But is talking about our health always a key to actual better health?
Elizabeth Bishop
Exploring the text and subtext of Elizabeth Bishop's poems, inspired by a new biography called Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast.
Mary Shelley
Someone discovered a handful of previously unpublished letters written by Mary Shelley, stashed in private house in a small English village.
The Language Wars
As a society becomes increasingly unstable, linguistic innovation happens more rapidly.
A George Saunders Outtake
George Saunders' trademark dark humor is especially on display in this "deleted scene" from the novella Pastoralia, available for free here.
Kathleen Collins and Black Women’s Sexuality
A new book is getting a lot of attention in the literary world right now…although its author died ...