Primary Sites:
A plea for the plausible in historical novels *
The American novelist Edmund White published an essay in a recent issue of the Times Literary Supplement -- the most highbrow review of books in the commercial media -- that addresses issues all writers of fiction have grappled with.
[More]
Excuse me, your grammar is dangling *
No column I have written in the past three years has provoked as much response as did the two I published this year on common grammatical errors. I have said outrageous things in this space: I expected to be pilloried for my views on drug use; I expected to be publicly executed for my views on marriage. I had almost no response of any stripe about those things. My inflammatory rages fell into a deep silent void, and no echo came back. And yet, I have a stack of letters on my desk -- I mean a real stack, about six pounds' worth -- of painstakingly handwritten letters from people (many of them retired teachers) who are thinking about grammar as much as I am, and thinking about it, apparently, all the time. It is impressive, and refreshing, to see how much passion is tied up in this pursuit.
[More]
Iris Murdoch: Her library speaks volumes *
Four years after her death, Iris Murdoch's books are on sale. In their well-thumbed pages are bus tickets, flowers, and touching inscriptions from those she loved
[More]
Oates harvests fresh delights from Garden ****
But the reworked novel is not the first case of literary history being rewritten
[More]
Oprah picks classic to restart book club *
Oprah Winfrey was sitting under an oak tree in California last summer, reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden and loving it, when she realized that just telling a few friends about it wouldn't do.
[More]
Son of a rebel, the people's poet, 'a bit of a swine' *
A new TV series depicts Shakespeare as a civil libertarian living in fear of the Queen's police, but a scholar insists his poetic legacy is all that matters, writes RAY CONLOGUE.
[More]
