Literary History

Monday Miscellany

Hunt on to find Cervantes — Spain’s great writer Miguel de Cervantes, Spain’s greatest writer, was a soldier of little fortune. He died broke in Madrid, his body riddled with bullets. His burial place was a tiny convent church no larger than the entrance hall of an average house. No more was heard of the […]

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

“The World Within”: Introduction

  The World Within: Fiction Illuminating Neuroses of Our Time Edited by Mary Louise Aswell Notes and Introduction by Frederic Wertham, M.D. New York: Whittlesey House, 1947   The World Within was one of the first literary collections assembled to spotlight a psychological approach to literature. It couples a literary editor’s introductory remarks with analysis

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Monday Miscellany

Literary legacy contributes to sense of community Here’s an article about one of the most famous authors you’ve probably never heard of: Harold Bell Wright was among the most popular American authors of his time, penning 19 novels — with 15 of them making their way to the silver screen. In 1930, The New York

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Monday Miscellany

Top 10 books about missing persons Top-notch mystery writer Laura Lippman discusses “the 10 best books about mysterious disappearances”: And while most missing person stories centre on those left behind, the “disappeared” have their stories to tell as well. These are often crime stories, and always love stories. In fact, the most satisfying ones are

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Mary Cheever, a Central Figure in a Literary Family, Dies at 95 – NYTimes.com

Mary Cheever, a Central Figure in a Literary Family, Dies at 95 – NYTimes.com Mary Cheever, a central figure in a family of prominent American writers whose most notable member was her husband, John, with whom she had a relationship as complex as those he wrote about in his prizewinning short stories and novels, died

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Monday Miscellany

The Conclusion of Women’s History Month As Women’s History month ends, here are two commemorative lists: 14 Totally Badass Female Authors Though many truly badass women authors are alive and working today, their stories aren’t yet finished. So as Women’s History Month draws to a close, we wanted to look back on some of the

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Monday Miscellany

Harlan Coben: By the Book This week’s New York Times‘s Sunday Book Review includes an interview with one of my favorite thriller authors, Harlan Coben. Related Posts: Harlan Coben in St. Louis: Part I Harlan Coben in St. Louis: Part II From Distant Admirers to Library Lovers–and beyond The Pew Research Center continues its study of

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Monday Miscellany

Book review: “The Golden Thread: The Story of Writing,” by Ewan Clayton Anyone who loves books will be interested in this book, which tells the story of typography: Writing matters, says Ewan Clayton, calligrapher, former monk, design and media professor and visual consultant to Xerox in Palo Alto, Calif., the folks who made the first

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Monday Miscellany

The Best Book You’ve Never Read: ‘Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age’ On the Publishers Weekly blog Gabe Habash describes what can be an elusive concept, narrative voice: Books that are voice-driven are, of course, dependent on the strength of the voice. Think about the best character-narrators you’ve read: maybe it’s Scout or Holden Caulfield

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Monday Miscellany

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards The Coretta Scott King Book Award was founded in 1969 in honor of the late Mrs. Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for her passion and dedication to working for peace. The awards are given to “outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for

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