Her Bounty Is Boundless
From the first actor—a man—to play Juliet to the “girl boss” version on Broadway, Shakespeare’s young lover offers something new in every iteration.
That Time Jean-Paul Sartre Got High on Mescaline
The French existentialist got more than he bargained for when he went in search of drug-induced inspiration for his philosophical writings.
The Cabarets of Heaven and Hell
In 1890s Paris, cabarets in bohemian Montmartre gave visitors a chance to tour the afterlife.
What, Prithee, Is a Poetess?
The loss and recovery of a poetic genre shows how the canon of literary history treats women writers the moment they start to gain attention and approval.
Revisiting John Williams, Novelist and Editor
Today marks the publication of English Renaissance Poetry, an anthology of poems selected by the novelist John Williams.
Who Wrote the Book of Love?
Did the troubadours write the book of love, or just a kind of love poetry?