Previously, we offered ten classic poems about poverty. But what about classic novels about poverty and class? Or, indeed, classic non-fiction works about living in poverty, and working-class life? Of course, ten books doesn’t give us much scope to be comprehensive, but we’ll do our best to introduce ten classics of English (and American) literature
Literature
October 13, 2020, 10:55am Leo Lionni wrote and illustrated more than forty children’s books in his lifetime, but the one which is the most meaningful to me might be his most famous: Frederick, the story of a little field mouse who keeps his family warm in the middle of a cold winter, by reciting poetry
The coronavirus pandemic is dramatically disrupting not only our daily lives but society itself. This show features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the deeper economic, political, and technological consequences of the pandemic. It’s our new daily podcast trying to make longterm sense out of the chaos of today’s global
‘Emmonsail’s Heath in Winter’ is one of John Clare’s most admired poems, its subject being – as the title makes clear – a heath during the wintry season when its ‘withered brake / Mingle its crimpled leaves with furze and ling’. Before we offer an analysis of this curious and brilliant paean to nature in
Books Beneath the Bridge: Greenlight Poetry SalonMonday, October 12, 7pm EDTFor the eighth season of Books Beneath the Bridge, a literature series hosted by the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Greenlight Bookstore will be hosting a virtual edition of their quarterly Poetry Salon, hosted and curated by poet Angel Nafis (BlackGirl Mansion). Featured poets Khadijah Queen (Anodyne),
October 9, 2020, 11:15am Yōko Ogawa’s acclaimed surrealist novel—the story of a young woman, struggling to maintain her career as a writer on a island where objects are disappearing, who concocts a plan to hide her endangered editor from the Memory Police—was one of the sleeper hits of 2019, garnering rave reviews, a National Book
October 9, 2020, 11:24am Dirty Dancing has given us many things. A love story. A drama about class. An argument for legalized abortion. A million classic wedding songs. “No one puts Baby in a corner.” And of course, The Lift. It also, as I was reminded this week, gave us something even more useful than
October 9, 2020, 12:02pm At this point in the pandemic, moviegoing has come to feel downright archaic to many, but anyone with an internet connection—and a select few with a car to take them to the drive-ins set up in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the Brooklyn Army Terminal—can indulge the habit this Saturday with
TODAY: In 1911, English journalist Clare Hollingworth, the first war correspondent to report the outbreak of World War II, is born. “It’s not laziness, but criminal, to feign ignorance of the havoc we have wrought on the world.” Fatima Bhutto chronicles this world on fire. | Lit Hub Politics “Prince always accepted what was coming, and was trying
October 9, 2020, 1:40pm Pandemic shopping: it’s just so hard to resist, especially when your purchase comes with some intrigue. The Real Deal reports today that the townhouse at 207 East 32nd Street, first built in 1902, has been sold to the New York Review of Books, noting that the publication already has an office
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys a beautifully produced new edition of Arthur Machen’s study of literature The Welsh author Arthur Machen (1863-1947) wrote some truly unsettling horror fiction, some notable novels about the Holy Grail, some subtle pioneering weird fiction (which I’ve previously reviewed here), and what many
TODAY: In 1898, Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim is born. “The road was a community in which we all pursued our destination at our own pace.” Lynne Sharon Schwartz on a lifetime in cars. | Lit Hub Memoir “People say I arrived in Trump’s America, but is it really Trump’s?” Ajibola Tolase making the move from Nigeria to
This is episode 17 of The Antibody Reading Series, a weekly reading and Q and A hosted by Brian Gresko. The guests this evening are Makenna Goodman, Hari Kunzru, and Sigrid Nunez. [embedded content] Buy the books featured tonight from your local indie or from Bookshop: Makenna Goodman, The Shame*Hari Kunzru, Red Pill *Sigrid Nunez, What
Selected by Dr Oliver Tearle English literature has a rich tradition of comic writing. From Chaucer’s ‘Miller’s Tale’ to Shakespeare’s Falstaff to the early comic novels of Smollett, Sterne, Fielding, and Swift, there are plenty of laughs to be had from the pages of the literary greats. But what will raise a chuckle among 21st-century
October 8, 2020, 7:22am Congratulations to the great Louise Glück, who was a surprise choice for this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. Granted, the prize is rarely obvious, but Glück —a former poet laureate of the United States—wasn’t mentioned much in any of this year’s pre-prize chatter. The prize committee cited Glück’s “unmistakable poetic voice
October 7, 2020, 12:16pm To mark the 24th anniversary of the Fox News Channel’s debut, HarperCollins and Fox News Media have announced the creation of a new imprint that will publish a stream of books I’m sure you’ll read by Fox News personalities. If the pairing seems unexpected, it’s anything but. Rupert Murdoch, who created
Richard III is one of William Shakespeare’s earliest history plays, and the first history play where we see his full maturity as a playwright emerging in his depiction of the central character’s downfall. Although Richard III shows the marked influence of Christopher Marlowe on Shakespeare, we also see signs of Shakespeare overcoming his contemporary’s influence
October 7, 2020, 10:30am Depending on how familiar you are with her work, you may not be surprised to learn that graphic memoirist Marjane Satrapi, whose Persepolis has become a modern classic, is also a figurative painter. “Painting is about going back to the origin of what I liked doing. And my mental health depends