Books & Literary Life
Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.
For This Poet, AI is a Writing Partner
Sasha Stiles trained a chatbot on her manuscripts. Now, her poems rewrite themselves.
Gift Ideas from a Valentine's-Day Doubter
The book selections include titles from fiction, memoir, self-help/advice, cookbooks, travel guides, and poetry...
Off the Shelf
The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, translated by Norman R. Shapiro ’51, Ph.D. ’58 (University of Illinois, $80 cloth, $25...
Venerable, Valuable Volumes
With its muted hues and pine floorboards, the store resembles a medieval library with a blinking Apple iMac on the counter. Inventory at James...
Chairman of the Bored
Improbable as it may seem, James D. Watson—the co-discoverer (with Francis Crick) of the structure of DNA—has written a Book of...
"Poems Are Not Position Papers"
Porter University Professor Helen Vendler grew up with her mother’s poetry books, which “stopped with the Victorians.” It was...
Chapter & Verse
Marcia Chellis requests a source for “Everything is high school.” Barbara Murray would like to verify an anecdote involving...
"...In My Mind I Am Perplexed"
The Civil War transformed American society and institutions. It brought about the formal end of slavery (but not of racial discrimination). It...
Vanished Acts
"Your wooden arm you hold outstretched to shake with passers-by." Three worthy books full of Harvard references have arrived...
The Rebellion of E.E. Cummings
Literary critics have found any number of ways to divide writers into opposing teams. Isaiah Berlin distinguished between...
by Adam Kirsch
The Mysterious Mr. Shakespeare
Cogan University professor Stephen Greenblatt set out to solve a mystery about Shakespeare