Books & Literary Life
Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.
Brief life of Guy Davenport, a polymathic stylist
Brief life of a polymathic stylist: 1927-2005
Excerpt from “The Wine Lover’s Daughter” by Anne Fadiman
Anne Fadiman ’74 recalls her father, Clifton, in an excerpt from The Wine Lover’s Daughter
Found in Translation
Maureen Freely ’74, longtime translator of Orhan Pamuk, shares the nuances of bringing a text from one language to another.
by Oset Babür
Recent books with Harvard connections
Recent books with Harvard connections
Harvard professor Stephanie Burt on becoming co-poetry editor at “The Nation”
Stephanie Burt ’94 is the kind of poetry critic who provokes anger in other poetry critics.
"Bunk" review: Kevin Young surveys American culture, from circuses to con men
From the Missouri Compromise to the 2016 election, Kevin Young's Bunk takes stock of American hoaxes, con men, and race fantasies.
by Niela Orr
Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
2017 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair
Rare books and ephemera at the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair
In “Little Fires Everywhere,” a Custody Battle Ignites the Comfortable Suburbs
Celeste Ng’s nimble second novel traces a cross-cultural drama in her Midwestern hometown.
In Danielle Allen’s “Cuz,” Caught Between Two Justice Systems
Allen’s new book excoriates both the justice system and a parallel universe of gang rule.