Books & Literary Life
Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.
How Adam Ehrlich Sachs Writes Absurd and Beautiful Fiction
The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.
by Eric Olson
Robert Coles and Atul Gawande on William Carlos Williams
Two Harvard doctors on William Carlos Williams
Shane McCrae: the poet and his work
The propulsive intensity of Shane McCrae’s poetry
Excerpt from “Scale & the Incas”
Questions about how societies conceptualize, perceive, and interpret scale.
Recent books with Harvard connections
Recent books with Harvard connections
Philip Johnson biography by Mark Lamster reviewed by Spencer Lee Lenfield
A “star-chitect” as P.T. Barnum
Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
“Time is Now: Photography in Baldwin’s Era” exhibit at the Carpenter Center
Eighteen photographers capture the 1930s through the 1980s.
Image and the Arc of Feeling
Jorie Graham’s challenging lyrics use language to give readers the experience of the poem.
Excerpt from “Not Quite Not White” by Sharmila Sen
A “first-gen” American explores race and assimilation in the United States.
Casey Cep reviews “These Truths: A History of the United States,” by Jill Lepore
Jill Lepore excavates the history of America, down to its bedrock values.
by Casey N. Cep