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
“Our Towns” highlights a positive force in American life
James ’70 and Deborah Fallows ’71 explore “what the hell is happening in America.”
Open Book: Excerpt from “Tyrant,” by Stephen Greenblatt
Stephen Greenblatt mines Shakespeare to interpret modern times.
Recent books with Harvard connections
Recent books with Harvard connections
"I want one more shot!": profile of TV writer Nell Scovell
TV writer Nell Scovell looks back on Just the Funny Parts.
Can Science Justify Itself?
Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now defends science from modern-day foes.
by Ada Palmer
Alain Locke as activist aesthete
Rediscovering Alain Locke and the project of black self-realization
by Adam Kirsch
Excerpt from "The Annotated African American Folktales"
The power and legacy of African-American folktales
Recent books with Harvard connections
Recent books with Harvard connections
Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
“Gorey’s World” at the Wadsworth Atheneum
Edward Gorey’s own art collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum