The Guardian
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Early Autobiography Gets a Boost
Margery Kempe, a 15th century mother-of-14 visited by religious visions whose autobiography is considered among the first in the English language, has just gained significant cred. For the first time, historians have been able to verify significant parts of her…
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Breaking Silence
For the Guardian, Nicole Lee reports on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s closing lecture at the PEN World Voices festival, where the Nigerian author expressed concern for the “dangerous silencing” of an American culture that “fears causing offense.” In addition, Adichie encouraged a culture…
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Looking Back to Modernism
At the Guardian, novelist Julian Barnes shares his experiences developing a taste for art during his childhood, and how modernism worked to change his early impressions of what art could be. In addition, he offers insight as to how modernist…
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Thank You, Hypertext
The book was, we can now see, crying out for the invention of the web, which would enable the holding of multiple domains of knowledge in the mind at one time that a proper reading requires. At the Guardian, Billy…
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What’s Left of the American Dream?
When it comes to literature, “has the American dream run out of road?” For the Guardian’s blog, Christopher Bollen ponders the question.
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Impending Death of a Dictionary
Much like the parochial vocabulary it strives to catalogue, the Dictionary of American Regional English is in danger of extinction. A stopgap crowdfunding campaign is currently open to support the project in the short term, but the long-term forecast for…
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The Dystopian Present
For the Guardian, Megan Quibell argues that climate change has changed dystopian fiction, as many recent dystopian works rely on a “catalyst” that stems from “the destruction of the environment.” The result is a series of books that “hammers home” the…
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Curating Life
You might say that our blog offers curated literary articles. That might sound pretentious, but not nearly as pretentious as a curated salad, a curated college application, or a curated wine list. The Guardian takes a look at the use, overuse, and…
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Broken Beauty
Way back in February, Chris Arnade penned a piece on his relationship with street addict Beauty. After months of ups and downs, the two came to a reconciliation, and Arnade ended up driving Beauty back to her mother’s place in…
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Buddies, Bishop and Gunn
Colm Toíbín, author of On Elizabeth Bishop, has a lovely long reflection at the Guardian about Bishop’s friendship with Thom Gunn, and the parallels in the artists’ life and work. Bishop and Gunn both shied away from writing about mentally ill mothers…
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Buying Online Is Like Shoplifting
British novelist David Nicholls believes that book buyers who browse their local shops and then buy books online are basically shoplifters, he tells the Guardian. The author of Us and other novels, Nicholls is a former bookseller himself. He delivered…
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Unusual Libraries Result from Modern Needs
Libraries arrive on camels, roll up on three wheels, float into our lives, speed along underground, or sometimes just like to host a party. Libraries of the past have been formal, center of civilization institutions of state control. The move toward…