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Translations is a play written by Brian Friel in 1980. It is a play in three acts that looks at language, and the history of cultural imperialism in Ireland. It was first performed at the Guildhall in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1980, a decision...

David Mamet’s Oleanna premiered in May 1992, as the first production of Mamet’s Back Bay Theater Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The debut featured William H. Macy as John, an aloof and pretentious academic, and Rebecca Pidgeon as Carol, his...

Shutter Island (2010) is a psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, and Max von Sydow. Released by Paramount Pictures, the film is adapted from Dennis...

Philip Sidney's "Ring Out Your Bells" first appeared under the title of "Dirge" (a song that laments the dead) in Sidney's 1598 volume Certaine Sonets. It may have been written after the marriage of Sidney's former fiancée Lady Penelope Devereux...

British literary giant Roald Dahl had an interesting heritage; born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Dahl was raised by his mother after his father's death. Despite his obvious literary genius, Dahl did not attend college after graduating from high...

Roxane Gay's Difficult Women is certainly an interesting book. Released in January 2017, this short story collection is a follow-up to her massively successful essay collection called Bad Feminist (which was released in 2014). Julia Fesenthal of...

"Happy the Man" is one of John Dryden's most familiar short poems to the modern reader. And yet, this poem is not entirely of his own making. In addition to being a playwright and prodigious creator of unique poetic flights of fancy, Dryden began...

At 404 pages, The Doctor Stories is a collection of handpicked short stories by Richard Selzer himself. It holds thirty years of his previous work, two new additions, and an introduction delving into his beginnings as a writer and the birth of his...

Originally published in 1974, Rituals of Surgery is Richard Selzer’s first collection of short stories. It indulges in the not-so-openly discussed perspective of surgical doctors and the experiences they go through when treating patients. The...

Over the course of his illustrious career, Stephen King has written more than a dozen bonafide classic novels. In fact, prior to the release of The Shining (his third book), he published two classics in the form of Carrie and 'Salem's Lot. The...

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that, while watching Hard Candy, "There is undeniable fascination in the situation as it unfolds... Seen as a film, seen as acting and direction, seen as just exactly how it unfolds on the screen, Hard Candy is...

One of MSNBC's most prominent talking heads, Maddow has never been one for holding back when it comes to expressing her opinions, or being gentle upon those who do not share them. In her 2019 book Blowout she explores her obsession with the issue...

In many ways, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man revolutionized the film industry and put superhero movies on the map. The film tells the origin story of Spider-Man, chronicling Peter Parker's life and the various hardships he experiences. Primarily, though...

"I want something to do." These are the first words in the narrative of Tribulation Periwinkle, the young protagonist of Hospital Sketches, and the autobiographic figure representing Louisa May Alcott. The book is, in fact, a compilation of four...

Over the course of his over 40 year career, Kurt Vonnegut wrote a number of books, many of which have become revered American classics. Sirens of Titan was the second of his many novels. A comedic science fiction story, most of Sirens of Titan...

“Easter Wings” is perhaps 17th-century English poet George Herbert’s most beloved poem. It is famous for its shape: the words on the page are arranged like a pair of wings. Besides “Easter Wings,” Herbert is also well-known for a second...

The Emperor Jones is a play written by Eugene O'Neill and first produced in New York City in 1920. It tells the story of a black American man named Brutus Jones who, after killing another black man in a dice game, escapes jail and goes to a small...

If you are one of millions of children who over the years have been told to go outside and get some fresh air, you will be surprised to discover that this was actually an instruction with a sound scientific basis. Richard Louv penned this book in...

There is relatively little known about Middle English poet Thomas Hoccleve, whose career spanned most of the reign of King Henry IV.For much of this reign he held the office of Privy Seal, which was an honor, but also a cause for complaint for...

For a writer who has made such a profound impact upon the world literature scene as Saida Herzi, there is notoriously little information readily available for fans, critics, students, scholars or just some randomly typing letters into a search...

Published in 1962, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is Shirley Jackson’s final novel before her death in 1965. Told from the perspective of 18-year-old Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood, it focuses on the lives of Merricat, her older sister...

"The Nightingale" by Sir Philip Sidney is a poem comprised of two twelve-line stanzas at a time when Italian meter and form were first entering the English literary tradition. Published in a 1598 folio of Sidney’s poems, Certaine Sonets, the poem...

Thriller and horror novelist Joe Schreiber's foray into young adult fiction produced an entertaining handbook for young con artists everywhere. The book's protagonist, Will Shea, has been raised to be a con artist, and his entire life has hurtled...

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America (1999) constitutes author Bill Bryson's first of many travel books. It details Bryson's nearly fourteen-thousand mile car journey, which started in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa and took Bryson...