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emily zarevich

Emily Zarevich

Emily R. Zarevich is a writer for Burlington, Ontario, Canada. She works as a journalist and has been featured in reputable publications such as The Queen’s Quarterly, The Smithsonian, and Missing Perspectives, among others.

Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ca 1864-70.

Becoming Beatrice

Dante adored her so much that he cast her as his guide in the Divine Comedy. But who was Beatrice Portinari?
Eva Bouchard's house in Péribonka

Quebec, Louis Hémon, and Maria Chapdelaine

Louis Hémon’s Maria Chapdelaine grew from his views as a French immigrant writer on the rural life of early twentieth-century Quebec.
F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, 1923

Zelda Fitzgerald on F. Scott’s Writing

Zelda’s satirical review of F. Scott's second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned, revealed much more than her wit.
Portrait of L.M. Montgomery

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.
An illustration of a crocodile head

“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.
Dorothy Richardson

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.
Katherine Mansfield, c. 1914

Katherine Mansfield and Anton Chekhov

Living in exile in Germany, the young New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield found solace in studying—and copying—Chekhov’s short stories.
Maud Lewis

Remembering Maud Lewis

A symbol of resilience and resourcefulness, Lewis remains one of Canada’s best-loved and most-celebrated folk artists.
An illustration of Shakespeare's poem Venus and Adonis

Shakespeare’s First Published Work

Celebrated for his plays, Shakespeare actually opened his writing career with a derivative poem.
The Self-sacrifice of a Father by Jacques Sablet, 1784

The Flour War

In eighteenth-century France, the scarcity and price of flour was the base ingredient for what would become one of history’s bloodiest revolutions.
Poster and art for Mark Twain's Joan of Arc

Mark Twain’s Obsession with Joan of Arc

Despite being famous for his witty analyses of the American South, Twain was proudest of the historical fiction he wrote about France’s legendary martyr.
Paul Borduas

The “Refus Global”

Published in 1948 by the artist group Les Automatistes, the Refus Global manifesto challenged Québécois political, religious, and social traditions.
the god Thor dressed up as Freyja, with artificial breasts, a necklace (Brísingamen) and a keychain. Loki, also dressed as a woman, is fixing up Thor's headgear.

That Time Thor and Loki Cross-Dressed

Why the Old Norse gods disguised themselves as a bride and bridesmaid before visiting Thrymr, king of Jötunheima.
Christina of Denmark

Picturing Christina of Denmark

Christina of Milan, Duchess of Milan, used an unusual tool to avoid becoming one of Henry VIII's unfortunate wives—the royal portrait.
Portrait of Mary Taylor

Mary Taylor, Charlotte Brontë’s Cool Friend

An independent traveler and business owner, Taylor inspired many of Brontë's own enterprises, including her relocation to Brussels.
The Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1490

Lady with an Ermine Meets Nazi Art Thief Hans Frank

Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting bore witness to the administrative acts that enabled the crimes committed against Polish Jews during World War II.
Beethoven's Apotheose by Eduard Majsch

The Mystery of Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved”

More than 200 years have passed since Beethoven wrote a passionate letter to his "Immortal Beloved." We still don't know her name.
Gerda Wegener and Lili Elbe

What Actually Happened to “The Danish Girl” and Her Wife

Lili Elbe, a Danish-born transgender woman, famously transitioned in the early twentieth century. What did her spouse, Gerda Wegener, think about it?
Marianne Moore, 1935

Marianne Moore: Master Mentor

A widely published poet with deep editorial experience, Moore turned out to be the perfect mentor for a Vassar student named Elizabeth Bishop
The cover of a 1908 edition of The Horla by Guy de Maupassant

Sneaky Racism in a Ghost Story

Guy de Maupassant’s spooky story "The Horla" captured French anxieties about race, foreigners, and contagious diseases.
Sylvia Plath's Ariel against a background of bees

Sylvia Plath’s Fascination with Bees

The social organization of the apiary gave Sylvia Plath a tool for examining her aesthetic self, even as her personal world slipped into disarray.
Laura Kieler

Laura Kieler: A Life Exploited

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen mined Kieler's life for the plot of his most famous play, The Doll's House.
Mathilde “Missy” de Morny

The Cross-Dressing Superstar of the Belle Époque

Mathilde de Morny's commitment to a masculine aesthetic and a non-traditional lifestyle in nineteenth-century France challenged the boundaries of gender identity.
Adrienne Rich with Susan Sherman. Photo by Colleen McKay. c. 1983

The Incredible Versatility of Adrienne Rich

Rich challenged the language of the past in poetry and prose while not quite embracing a fully inclusive future.
Illustration accompanying an account by Lawrence Banck of the 1644 coronation of Pope Innocent X. The pope is having his testicles felt by a cardinal in order to confirm that he is a man.

The Myth of the Papal Toilet Chair

Legend holds that newly elected popes in the Middle Ages had to present their genitals for inspection to confirm that they were male.