Just Wilde About Hair
The evolution of Oscar Wilde’s hair offers insight into how he constructed and revised his public identity.
10 Prose Poems That Think Outside the Line
Poems that blur the boundaries of form, by Claudia Rankine, Louise Glück, Victoria Chang, Arthur Rimbaud, Layli Long Soldier, Mary Ruefle, and more.
Malibu in Matchbooks: Clues to a Lost Coast
A collection of matchbooks from Southern California maps a vanished mid-century commercial corridor, long displaced by fire and time.
A Reader’s Guide to Poetry for National Poetry Month
Read poems, learn poetic forms, and discover writers in this National Poetry Month roundup.
The Red Chador’s Provocative Public Performance
Anida Yoeu Ali’s Red Chador challenges stereotypes of Muslim identity through performance art in highly visible public settings.
Gender Play in Nineteenth-Century Theater
In the 1800s, women playing tragic leads captivated crowds while critics struggled to reconcile talent with gender norms.
Returning to Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez
A literary classic doubles as data, helping scientists trace decades of ecological change in the Gulf of California.
Why Lacan Loved Harpo Marx
A surprising encounter between high theory and Hollywood farce reshapes how we think about laughter and desire.
The Trouble with Authentic Ancient Statues
Scientific analysis has restored the colors of ancient Greek statues. Why does seeing them restored still feel so wrong?
Edgar Allan Poe’s Mechanical Imagination
Behind The Raven’s melancholy lies a theory of composition shaped by magazines, machines, and modernity.