Literary Criticism

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Sylvia Plath wrote some of the best poetry of the 20th century, but her work gets less attention than the way she died. So argues Heather Clark.

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“Engaging and provocative, Diamond’s encyclopedic meditation will certainly help readers—no matter where they live—think about what lies ahead for the outlying areas of our cities.”

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Nick Flynn’s mother set fire to their house and later killed herself.

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The inspiration for Marjorie Garber’s interesting but ultimately frustrating book seems to be the political ascendancy of Donald Trump.

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Whether new to Middle-Earth or a veteran pilgrim, anyone will learn much in this book.

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“a fascinating book about Whitman, his poetry, and the ways queer life has evolved in America over the last three centuries . . .”

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Not Even Past is a trenchant, wide-ranging survey of the history that binds us a nation while, at the same time, drives us apart.

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Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader is pure Vivian Gornick—not always easy reading, but sufficiently gripping to make us carry on, page after page,

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Emily Dickinson has been called the greatest poet in the English language. She is also “America’s most enigmatic and mysterious poet.” But she is not mysterious, according to Martha Ackman.

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Monster, She Wrote is a lovely volume for new readers, and an excellent gift for oddball teens, but it should be backed up with more resources for those seeking k

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“Only a spiritual and moral awakening can save humanity from destroying itself as an outcome of prejudice and bigotry.”

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This is a book review of The Bad Side of Books: Selected Essays of D. H. Lawrence, edited and with an introduction by Geoff Dyer.

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The famed Bauhaus school of art and design in Germany was founded in 1919 by pioneering architect Walter Gropius in Weimar.

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Paul Gauguin (1838–1903) is a compelling figure, both as an artist and man.

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“Daniel Mendelsohn fulfills his own criteria for good criticism. His erudition is always impressive, but one never feels that he is showing off.

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“Most compelling is Cloutier’s overarching purpose: to explore the deliberate, cautious, and sometimes frustrating ways Claude McKay and three roughly contemporary African American novelist

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“For as Lynskey charts the admittedly astonishing reception of a narrative so adaptable as to be embraced by the Black Panthers and to be approved by the John Birch Society both, one wonder

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“[S]ome empowering concepts and more than a few compelling arguments should you decide to approach Don’t Read Poetry . . .

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What if we took seriously the form of thinking that we find in tragedy, and the experience of partial agency, limited autonomy, deep traumatic affect, agnostic conflict, g

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Arguably the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji was written by a Japanese noblewoman known as Murasaki Shikibu around the year 1,000 CE.

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Summer Brennan takes on much more than just the high heel.

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“Paul Klee: Life and Work gathers together the full spectrum of Klee’s frame of mind, revealing his character through his artistic personality.”

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The Wedding Guest proves once again why this series has become the longest-running American crime series.”      

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