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.
"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
Open Book
Poet and literary figure John Hall Wheelock '08 (1886-1978) was an editor at Charles Scribner's Sons for 46 years, working with Hemingway...