313. (John Keats)

There is the occasion and there is the utterance; there is the condition and there is the judgment; there is … More

312. (Sebastian Rödl)

Whenever I write here on the work of the philosopher Sebastian Rödl, as I have done several times before, I … More

Patrick Chamoiseau’s novels take their form from the primacy of orality, but with the recognition—expressed most clearly at the close … More

Song of Solomon is among the twentieth-century masterpieces that draws from the stock of devices associated with Dickens and finds entirely … More

“Spiteful” is a shocking word, seeming too small, too intimate. But then it is the right word for the novel, … More

It is too easy–or has been too easy for me–to become ensnared on the sections of The Book of Baruch by the … More

Andrew Marvell’s detached melancholy accommodates skepticism towards the idea that melancholy is suitable for the world (even as it admits … More

Though it is probably the third most famous of Empson’s villanelles, “Reflection from Anita Loos” is a fine example of … More

To my eyes and ears, the single greatest post-1960s American poet is Lucille Clifton. She is as essentially a lyric … More

Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a remarkable work of one of the few (only?) … More