literature

Dickens never got the quiet, unassuming burial he painstakingly pretended to want

He was supposed to write about Chaucer. Instead he wrote about the Shire.

Fitzcarraldo publishing house has picked two Nobel prize winners since launching in 2014

Bizarre rules, corruption, morally indefensible winners: Explore Alfred Nobel’s flawed legacy.

How the indie magazine saved print, and where to get started

50 states. 50 books. 50 history lessons (give or take).

Ready to go full ‘Into the Wild’?

Female writers lead Chicago's premier literary critic's list

From absurdist masterpieces to d*ck jokes a la Hemingway

Note: Don't compare your lover's skin to a stained bathtub

The beloved poet delivers a history of blue-collar Chicago

Handwriting is good for your brain. Pick up these essentials.

‘Rust Belt Chicago’ lets Chicagoans speak for themselves

On Joyce's tweeds, Wolfe's whites and dressing confidently

Pack your bags. We're going to Middle Earth.

Visceral' is a scantily clad ode to the city and its vices

Erotic literature offers a more mentally stimulating alternative to porn that just might be more stimulating overall

He reimagined what the spy novel could do

Book publishing, an industry in flux, is getting a new player in Molly Stern’s Zando

The judges decided we've been subjected to enough this year without throwing bad sex into the mix

Michael Farris Smith's "Nick" is out this winter

Glück is the first female poet to receive the prize since 1996

From the Trojan War to Shakespeare, the oft-ridiculed archetype has always had much darker implications

"Troubled Blood" is out this week

The latest chapter in literary scholarship's favorite pastime: needlessly speculating on Shakespeare's sexuality

The re-release of his memoir puts him in company with Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain and Tom Wolfe

The organization wanted to say that Black Lives Matter, and apparently not everyone agreed

The late author's papers contain some cringeworthy statements

Elliot Ackerman's "Red Dress in Black and White" echoes some recent developments in American politics

What would an MLB season played entirely in the desert look like?

An early recorded use of the word comes from a manuscript put together during a 16th-century Scottish lockdown

Independent bookstores, and booksellers, get a lifeline just when they need it most