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.
Harvard classicist Richard Thomas on Bob Dylan
In a new book, classicist Richard Thomas explores Bob Dylan’s literary ties to ancient Greece and Rome.
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.
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.
A Life of Adventure and Delight
Akhil Sharma is less interested in ideology in itself than in politics as a backdrop to emotional conflict.
Seeing the the Invisible World of Microbes
On Earth, microbes run the show.