Literature

“We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain.” This certain death came tragically early for the Chilean poet and novelist Roberto Bolaño, writer of that lapidary sentence, who died twenty years ago this month at the age of 50. In the years

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) William Wordsworth’s classic poem beginning ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’, which was first published in 1807, is a classic work of English Romanticism. Part of its power lies in the symbolism Wordsworth uses. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most important symbols from Wordsworth’s ‘daffodils

Picture books must hitch a ride on the parent if a child is to get a look-in. The children’s publicity machine is tilted fully at the adults, a frontlist built around celebrities children have never heard of (is Zadie Smith a sure thing for a young reader? Is Aubrey Plaza?), and market needs—ideas around the

The German filmmaker Christian Petzold has often incorporated books and literature into his work: Barbara (2012) was based on a German novella and borrowed passages from W.G. Sebald; Undine (2020) reinterpreted a mermaid myth; Jerichow (2008) was inspired by James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. Other times, texts become totemic objects, like the

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Lying’ is a very useful word. But it’s also a strong accusation, and one that, when made, we want to hit the mark and have maximum impact. Overusing such a word can dull its edge and rob it of some of its power, so it’s sometimes useful to reach

During the first few weeks of the fall semester, when I teach with the windows wide open, it’s not uncommon for the whine of lawnmowers on the quad to interrupt our work. Sometimes I’ll shut the windows with a sigh. Sometimes, if we are at a stopping point, I’ll wave the class away: Go. Live

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Can’t Get You out of My Head’ is one of Kylie Minogue’s best-known and most-played tracks. Taken from the 2001 album Fever, it’s a dancefloor classic and its release as a single, just three days before 9/11 back in September 2001, was accompanied by one of Kylie’s most popular

The following is from Yan Ge’s Elsewhere: Stories. Ge was born in Sichuan, China. She is a fiction writer in both Chinese and English, and is the author of thirteen books in Chinese, including five novels. The first of her Chinese-language novels to be translated and released in the US, Strange Beasts of China, was

TODAY: In 1947, Lydia Davis is born.   How J. Robert Oppenheimer used one of his favorite books, the Bhagavad Gita, to make the most consequential decision of the 20th century. | Lit Hub History Truman Capote became the “it” author of his generation after publishing In Cold Blood. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing. | Lit Hub Biography C.K. Chau considers the importance

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Waiting’ is a 1950 short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). Alternatively known as ‘The Wait’, the story is about an unnamed man who flees to Buenos Aires who escape his enemy, a gangster named Villari. The story focuses on the man’s time spent waiting

July 14, 2023, 11:51am Seventy-two years ago this week, The Catcher in the Rye first hit bookshelves across the US, and people still have some pretty strong opinions about J. D. Salinger’s groundbreaking debut. Die-hard fans and rabid haters are legion. Indeed, of all the mid-century American novels to stand the test of time, perhaps

TODAY: In 1904, Anton Chekhov dies at 44 of tuberculosis.     Steve Edwards reflects on teaching Brian Doyle’s “Leap” to the post-9/11 generation: “When I read it now, I am every bit as chastened as when I first read it. But something has changed for my students.” | Lit Hub Teaching How the machinery of social

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Marionettes, Inc.’ is a 1949 short story by the American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012). The story was reprinted in Bradbury’s 1952 collection The Illustrated Man. It concerns a company which can manufacture lifelike plastic doubles of people; these ‘marionettes’ can then stand in for the person they resemble while

July 13, 2023, 12:46pm Another day, another article about how the unstoppable forces of wokeness are coming for your kids. This time, via an article in The Federalist with the snappy headline “A Woke Children’s Literature Cabal Is Conditioning Your Kid To Be An Obedient Leftist.” TL;DR: Remember the good old days, when kids’ books taught important

TODAY: In 2014, South African writer and political activist Nadine Gordimer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, dies at 90.      “It doesn’t matter if you’re worthy of doing it. It matters that it’s worthy of doing.” Amy Rowland on writing about rural America. | Lit Hub On Marianne Faithfull, one of the women

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘True’ is Spandau Ballet’s signature song. But what is the actual meaning of this pop-soul ballad which topped the UK charts in 1983? The song has its roots in Gary Kemp’s feelings about the lead singer of another 80s band, while aspects of the lyrics and melody pay tribute

July 12, 2023, 12:13pm PBS is at it again! Premiering on July 18th, Southern Storytellers is a three-episode docuseries aimed to “reveal Southern culture in its diversity and complexity” by “follow[ing] some of the region’s most compelling and influential contemporary creators to the places they call home.” Among other creatives in the worlds of music, TV, and film,

TODAY: In 1918, Doris Grumbach, writer, critic, and literary editor of The New Republic for several years, is born.     Also on Lit Hub: On loving and fictionalizing Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Andrew Ridker on writing about the recent past • Read from Maud Ventura’s newly translated novel, My Husband (tr. Emma Ramadan)