Books & Literary Life

Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.

Tara Menon’s Debut Novel Combines Friendship, Grief, and Climate Disaster

The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.

by Andrés Muedano

Excerpt from “How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration”

Unpacking “what art does to us”

Mark Dery on Edward Gorey, reviewed by Spencer Lee Lenfield

An idiosyncratic new biography of Edward Gorey

by Spencer Lee Lenfield

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

“Binstead’s Safari” and the continuing appeal of novelist Rachel Ingalls

The continuing appeal of novelist Rachel Ingalls

by Olivia Munk

The Examined Life

Why is it that so many doctors feel compelled to write, and that so many do, so compellingly? 

by Jonathan Shaw

Delba Winthrop on Aristotle and Democracy

The Kenan professor of government’s story of a dissertation published 44 years after it was accepted

Tale of Genji Illustrated

A magnificent set of images, published—and exhibited

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections