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
Laughing at Slavery
In Laughing Fit to Kill: Black Humor in the Fictions of Slavery, Glenda Carpio describes how slavery has provided a background and a source of raw material for African-American humor.
The Alcotts, Père and Fille
John Matteson, who left the law to pursue literature, won a Pulitzer Prize for Eden’s Outcasts, his double biography of Bronson and Louisa May Alcott.
From Literature to the Lab
In this excerpt from his new book, The Art and Politics of Science, Nobel laureate Harold Varmus reflects on his switch from graduate work in English to medical school.
On Judicial Interpretation
Paul M. Barrett reviews The Invisible Constitution, by Loeb University Professor Laurence H. Tribe.
Off the Shelf
Recent books with Harvard connections
Chapter & Verse
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
A Death in the Harvard Family: John Updike ’54, Litt.D. ’92
Noted author John Updike ’54, Litt.D. ’92, died of lung cancer on January 27 at the age of 76.
"Working Sisters"
Pan Tianshu reviews Leslie Chang's new book Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
by Pan Tianshu
Chapter & Verse
A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words
Storytelling Scholar
Marie Rutkoski blends sixteenth-century history with fantasy in The Cabinet of Wonders, a new novel for young adults.