The idea that literature contains multitudes is not new. For the greater part of its history, lit(t)eratura referred to any writing formed with letters. Up until the eighteenth century, the only true ...

When reviewing job growth and salary information, it’s important to remember that actual numbers can vary due to many different factors—like years of experience in the role, industry of employment, ...

Emily Holman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

The strangely short history of a publishing niche. Ad Policy The smallest book in the world is on display at the Frankfurt Book Fair, 1961. (Photo by Keystone / Getty Images) As an English professor, ...

You have your Southern Gothic tales and your Westerns, the San Francisco beats and the New York poets — but what is the literary tradition of the Midwest? It’s a hazy question: People don’t think of ...

The metaphors of mirrors and windows have long had an association with children’s literature. Books as mirrors reflect the worlds and experiences of children back at them, acknowledging and affirming ...

Recently, whenever I reference the titles of literary classics in my English courses, I am usually met with blank stares. Many college-age students have never read or studied these works of literature ...

As the Nobel Committee gets ready to admit a new writer into the pantheon, our critic asks: Is greatness overrated? Critic’s Notebook As the Nobel Committee gets ready to admit a new writer into the ...

John Guillory’s “Cultural Capital,” published amid the 1990s canon wars, became a classic. In a follow-up, “Professing Criticism,” he takes on his field’s deep funk. By Jennifer Schuessler Thirty ...

Will William Shakespeare miss the company of Yankee writers Maya Angelou and Harper Lee? (Photo by AFP/Getty Images) Most English teachers think, as I did, that the best bit of their job is reading ...