I was reading The Silent Woman (1993) by Janet Malcolm, a book on the life of Sylvia Plath. What I thought to be a simple biography of the poet turned out to be more than that. The book was about the people who wrote about and profited from the now-deceased Sylvia Plath. The main way…
When not hot on the scent of a miscreant at large, the armchair detective staves off boredom by pretending to read their narrator’s mind. Congeniality, after all, is among their investigative toolkit. They never lose composure before their foes and partners in justice, because they never take their cases personally— their expeditions are merely a…
Arthur Conan Doyle’s fiction, beyond establishing the world’s most beloved detective, firmly identifies itself by skimping on just enough in-text details for the reader to become sleuths themselves. However, a faithful Sherlock Holmes adaptation draws a black-and-white against what can be called “the commonplaces of existence”—even placing the detective upon a well-held position above narrative…
For decades, romantic comedies have held a special place in American pop culture, primarily through the silver screen. Classics like When Harry Met Sally and 10 Things I Hate About You captivated audiences with their charm, wit, and heartfelt exploration of love. But in the realm of literature, rom-coms—or “chick-lit” as they were often dismissively…
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has become an increasingly familiar reference point in the frazzled, chaotic cycle of modern elections. The novel’s dystopian world of Gilead, where women are stripped of their rights and forced into rigid roles, has been used to illustrate concerns about political and social trends, particularly in recent years. For many,…