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
Remembering H.D.
Hilda Doolittle, aka H.D., had her champions among modern scholars, but she's still often left off modern poetry course syllabi.
Every Good Bird Does Fine
Is birdsong music, speech, or something else altogether? The question has raged for millennia, drawing in everyone from St. Augustine to Virginia Woolf.
Ernest Hemingway and Gender Fluidity
Despite his reputation for hypermasculinity, the author was fascinated by different forms of gender expression.
Sick Party!
The party as site of contagion in Edgar Allan Poe, Evelyn Waugh, and Ling Ma.
Walter Benn Michaels: What’s His Deal?
The literary critic Walter Benn Michaels challenges the prevailing trends of postmodernist theory.
Franz Kafka’s The Trial—It’s Funny Because It’s True
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
What The Great Gatsby Reveals About The Jazz Age
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel embraced jazz, while also falling prey to the racist caricatures associated with it.
More Hipster Than Thou: Is Vintage Language Back in Vogue?
A look at the recent boon in archaic terms and its relationship to "hipster" culture.
Taylor Swift: 1989’s Confessional Poet
Since she first came to prominence, Taylor Swift's songs have been read autobiographically.