Digital Overload
How can contemporary biographers contend with the explosion of materials at their disposal?
A Brief History of Literary Cats
There’s nothing like curling up with a good book and a soft cat. Even better is a book with a cat in it.
How to Fight with Friends in Ancient Egypt
A scholar finds that some ancient Egyptians who were literate wrote annoyed letters to friends.
How to Use Zotero and Scrivener for Research-Driven Writing
This month, I’m doing something a little different with my column: I’m sharing the system I use to write it, so that you can use or adapt my system.
Can Artificial Intelligence Be Creative?
Machines can write compelling ad copy and solve complex "real life" problems. Should the creative class be worried?
The Disappointing Reality of 19th-Century Courtship
For white, middle-class women in the 19th century U.S., courtship and marriage offered less emotional intimacy than their friendships with other women.
The Ladylike Language of Letters
Letters reveal how language changes. They also offer a peek into the way people--especially women--have always constructed their private and public selves.
William Goldman and the Mystery of Screenwriting
Authorship of Hollywood screenplays is often a complicated matter. But William Goldman was truly a writer in Hollywood.
How Facebook Revived the Epistolary Friendship
Would today's online, social media-based friendships look familiar to the letter-writing friends of earlier centuries, when epistolary friendships were also common?