Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda; Translated by Janet Afary; John R. Perry— I’ve often wondered how it is that, with all the emphasis by prophets and sages and the great men of the world on the need for education of women, when our women have so often assembled and, humbly but insistently, petitioned
Tim Parks— Critics talk a great deal of the contents of books, their style, scope, plot, rhythm, characters, descriptions, and so on, but rarely turn their attention to our reactions to them, and through the books to the authors. Authors are categorized by periods, by ideologies, by the genres they
László F. Földényi— This past April, the American edition of my book Melancholy was presented at the Rubin Museum in New York. While spending a week in the city, meeting friends and acquaintances, I was often confronted with the question: “Are you Hungarians melancholic?” Initially, my answer was: “No, not
Graham Seal— Ancient though their origins may be, the world’s many myths and legends have played an important role in history. Frightening fables of unknown southern lands, tales of lost cities, and endless rumors of hidden hordes of gold have motivated many of the world’s greatest explorations. Five centuries before
Gabriel Josipovici— Hamlet is the best-known work of literature in the English (and perhaps any) language, but it is also one of the most puzzling. We all feel we know it intimately, yet when we try to put that knowledge into words we find we hardly know it at all.
Geoff Wisner— After graduating from Harvard College in 1837, Henry David Thoreau returned to the village of Concord, where he taught school with his older brother John. At least once a week the Thoreau brothers took the students out for a walk or a boating excursion. On one of these
Marion L. Soards— In the course of a conversation about religion, it would not be surprising to hear someone refer to the New Testament, meaning by that phrase to name the portion of the Christian Bible that is regarded as sacred Scripture by many people and that was written originally
Stephen H. Blackwell and Kurt Johnson— Nabokov’s science and art are united most of all by his fascination with time, and it was that fascination that led to one of his most surprising near-discoveries in the 1940s. His work with time as a biological factor in evolution produced major scientific
Hughie begins performances on February 8 at Broadway’s Booth Theatre and Long Day’s Journey Into Night begins performance on March 31 at Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre Robert M. Dowling— Not long ago, on the 123rd anniversary of Eugene O’Neill’s birth, I attended the Irish American Writers and Artists organization’s
William C. Carter— A question I am often asked is why do I never tire of reading Proust’s In Search of Lost Time? How does this novel continue to speak to generation after generation in a voice that seems fresh and vigorous? How does Proust manage to breathe so much