Maybe Try Focusing on Your Writing?
May 21, 2020
Haven’t you said you always wanted to write that novel? Well, this is as good a time as any, so here is some inspiration and wisdom to get you started…. READ MORE
Category: Literature
Poetry to Nurture Your Soul
Roses are red, violets are blue, here is some poetry to help get you through. A vital, engaging, and hugely enjoyable guide to poetry, from ancient times to the present,… READ MORE
Escape through Fiction
There is something to be said about leaving reality behind for a bit. These works of fiction will take you around the world and beyond. “If China has one possibility… READ MORE
I Live in the Slums
May 19, 2020
Can Xue— I live in the slums. I didn’t settle firmly on one place to live. I could stay anywhere as long as it had a stove. This area produces… READ MORE
Leaving Baghdad
May 18, 2020
Sinan Antoon— I put my bag next to Roy’s big bag close to the front door and went to the hotel restaurant, a small room with four tables and a… READ MORE
The Epic of Gilgamesh
April 30, 2020
John Carey— The oldest surviving literary work is The Epic of Gilgamesh. It was composed nearly 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia (roughly equivalent to where Iraq and eastern Syria… READ MORE
Material Culture and the Ethnicity of Non-Jewish Christians
April 23, 2020
Christopher Stroup— The cities of the Roman Empire were filled with gods and the citizens who honored them with festivals, processions, buildings, and benefactions. The followers of Jesus—later called Christians—lived… READ MORE
The Punishment
April 21, 2020
Tahar Ben Jelloun— July 16, 1966, is one of those mornings that my mother has tucked away in a corner of her memory, she says, so she can remember to… READ MORE
Donald Trump and the Great Gatsby
April 8, 2020
Greil Marcus— The following advertisement appeared in Elite Traveler, Spring 2013: The Trump International Hotel & Tower New York pays homage to The Great Gatsby—the film adaptation of the iconic… READ MORE
Wordsworth in Self-Isolation
April 6, 2020
Jonathan Bate— During the great pandemic lockdown, people on Twitter have been “dreaming of other places”—beautiful places that they remember and of which they have treasured photographs. What they are… READ MORE
A New Audience for the World’s First Author