“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe: Annotated
Poe's 1841 story, arguably the first detective fiction, contains many tropes now considered standard to the genre, including a brilliant, amateur detective.
So You Plan to Teach Moby Dick
The study of Melville’s novel is enhanced by contextualizing it with primary and secondary sources related to the American sperm whaling industry.
Why Are So Many Romances Set in the Regency Period?
The British Regency era lasted less than a decade, but it spawned a staggering number of unlikely fictional marriages.
How Emily Dickinson Wrestled with Darwinism
The current vogue for the Amherst poet needs to give credit to the way she readily examined her childhood ideas about fixed and immutable truth.
Are Insects Capable of Moral Behavior?
Some 19th-century naturalists believed that bugs could think and should therefore definitely know that biting is out of line.
With Social Media, Everyone’s A Celebrity
Social media has made constant exposure a common experience. To learn how to deal with the attention, maybe we should look to the first celebrities.
Sorry, but Jane Eyre Isn’t the Romance You Want It to Be
Charlotte Brontë, a woman whose life was steeped in stifled near-romance, refused to write love as ruly, predictable, or safe.
Jane Austen’s Subtly Subversive Linguistics
Why are Jane Austen books still so beloved? A linguist argues it has more to do with Austen's masterful use of language than with plot.
On The Black Skyscraper: An Interview with Literary Critic Adrienne Brown
Early skyscrapers changed the ways we see race, how we see bodies, how we perceive and make judgments about people in the world.