literature - Quillette

Kazuo Ishiguro and the Uncanny Cascade

We live in a transitional period, when the possibility of being duped by incomprehensible intelligences—and thereby duping ourselves—has grown exponentially.

Anthony Eagan

7 Apr 2023 · 16 min read

The Real Reasons Why the English Department Died

Most professors would rather watch it die than reform.

Adam Ellwanger

5 Apr 2023 · 9 min read

Game, Set, Match

Routinely reviled by contemporary critics as a celebration of misogyny, ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ is among Shakespeare’s most misunderstood plays.

Marilyn Simon

24 Mar 2023 · 11 min read

Thoughtful Aesthete or Cheerful Philistine?

On art, artists, and the divided soul of comedian Russell Kane.

Robin Ashenden

10 Mar 2023 · 8 min read

Do We Still Need a Women’s Prize for Fiction?

It is time to consider retiring awards segregated by the sex of the author.

Josh Allan

10 Mar 2023 · 6 min read

Words Are the Only Victors

Salman Rushdie’s new novel is a powerful reminder of his vital role in the endless battle for free speech.

Christian Kriticos

28 Feb 2023 · 11 min read

Roald Dahl and the Ethics of Art

The urge to censor is based on a misunderstanding of what makes literature valuable.

Iona Italia

21 Feb 2023 · 11 min read

Ken Kesey and the Rush to Deinstitutionalization

Whatever the literary strengths of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the book has done much to harm both the mentally ill and their communities.

Stephen Eide

14 Nov 2022 · 11 min read

Two Hundred Years of Stendhal

2022 marks the bicentennial of the pseudonym’s transformation from literary dabbler into one of the greatest novelists of the modern age.

Robert Zaretsky

5 Oct 2022 · 10 min read

Why I Left Academia (Since You're Wondering)

I didn’t have a choice. Thousands of people are driven out of the profession each year.

William Deresiewicz

17 Aug 2022 · 15 min read

What Explains Women's Fascination With BDSM Fiction?

Every generation or so (i.e., roughly every 25 years) a woman (it’s always a woman) writes a book about kinky sex—and a very specific type of kinky sex.

Robert King

9 May 2022 · 10 min read

Over the years, Le Tartuffe ou l’Imposteur has been one my favorite Molière plays to study and direct with my undergraduate students at Princeton University. I find it to be the best point of origin from which to discover his body of work. As often with Molière, the plot

Florent Masse

19 Apr 2022 · 11 min read

Anatomy of a Murder

On New Year’s Eve 2021 news of my killing began to circulate on Twitter. > holy shit this is a murder https://t.co/CwsF0sZ9sZ — Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) January 1, 2022 [https://twitter.com/juliacarriew/status/1477358519498199043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] I scrolled through scores of posts before I

Jonathan Gottschall

18 Mar 2022 · 10 min read

A World of Waste, Stripped of Transcendence: James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ at 100

Few novels become institutions, to have departments rigged up around them, whole constituencies and spheres of scholarship, as works of lifelong study, fascination and confusion. Ulysses [https://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Modern-Library-Best-Novels/dp/0679600116/ref=sr_1_4?crid=NG7V10N9NCDB&keywords=ulysses&qid=1643218547&sprefix=ulysses%2Caps%2C75&sr=8-4] , whose

Jared Marcel Pollen

31 Jan 2022 · 13 min read

Reading James Joyce Amidst Winter Snow, ‘Where Dwell the Vast Hosts of the Dead’

Many people no doubt roll their eyes in scoffing dismissal when they hear the commonly expressed—and almost as commonly crooned—wish for a White Christmas. But there are sound spiritual reasons for longing to see one’s environs blanketed with snow. Silent in its approach and accumulation, snow can

Herman Goodden

14 Jan 2022 · 9 min read