Essays

The Widower’s Lament 

After the death of the poet Wendy Barker, her grieving husband turns to the literature of loss

by Steven G. Kellman | Monday, March 04, 2024

The World at the End of a Line

The grandson of one of American literature’s Lost Generation novelists reflects on his namesake’s love of the sea

by John Dos Passos Coggin | Thursday, April 13, 2023

The Goddess Complex

A set of revered stone deities was stolen from a temple in northwestern India; their story can tell us much about our current reckoning with antiquities trafficking

by Elizabeth Kadetsky | Thursday, March 02, 2023

Last Rites and Comic Flights

A funeral in a 1984 Japanese film offers moments of slapstick amid the solemnity

by Pico Iyer | Thursday, July 28, 2022

The Believer

When nobody would touch Joyce’s manuscript, Sylvia Beach stepped in

by Keri Walsh | Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Ter Conatus

Reading Joyce in a minor key

by Donal Ryan | Thursday, June 09, 2022

Know Me Come Eat With Me

In the world of Ulysses, food turns out to be everything

by Flicka Small | Thursday, June 09, 2022

It Happened One Day in June

Why Ulysses is as vital as ever— compelling, complex, and direct

by Robert J. Seidman | Wednesday, June 01, 2022

The Bomb Next Door

Eighty years into the atomic age, U.S. nuclear power reactors have produced several million tons of radioactive waste—and we still have no idea how to dispose of it

by Thomas A. Bass | Wednesday, June 01, 2022

The Lions and the San

How could a people survive for thousands of years with so many predators in their midst?

by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas | Wednesday, June 01, 2022
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