In The Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan, sections of text stack on top of one another, interlaced like fretwork. Bursts of flowers and tangles of vines fill the empty spaces.

Remembering history helps us to parse the present, and it follows that women struggling to process these "decades of pent-up anger" can find apt reading material in the feminist fiction of the 1970s.

Arguing about the great American novel was perfect fodder for periodicals in the late 1800s, and it is catnip for a listicle-obsessed internet.

The last week of September is Banned Books Week, when the American Library Association calls our attention to works that have been censored.

Jan Davidszoon de Heem, one of the greatest still-life painters of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age, brought particular brilliance to book still-lifes.

It's the 200th anniversary of the birth of Branwell Brontë, who isn't nearly as famous as his three sisters but remains a key player in the family drama.

Denis Johnson, author of Jesus' Son and other award-winning books, speaks with Eric Elshtain on the role of religion in his work.

Friday Reads: An exclusive short story by Louise Erdrich (author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry), originally published in The Georgia Review in 1985.

David George Haskell's book The Song of the Trees: Stories From Nature's Great Connectors, explores trees' connections with various communities.

Flannery O'Connor employed grotesqueness and violence in her stories to illustrate the workings of grace on her characters.