Esther's Classic Literature Blog February 2008 Archive

Why do you read the classics? Is it for enjoyment? Are you educating yourself on the history of literature? Perhaps you're taking a course in high school or college. Or, ... Read More

Zora Neale Hurston wrote stories, novels, plays, and folklore. A born storyteller, she was part of the Harlem Renaissance of African-American writers. "I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked ... Read More

John Gunther was already an established journalist when he wrote Death Be Not Proud. He'd also written a number of works of fiction and nonfiction. But, of all of his ... Read More

Edna St. Vincent Millay received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923 for The Ballad of the Harp Weaver. Other works include: Renascence (1917) and Second April (1921). She was ... Read More

Some stories, novels, or poems come out only after a bit of detective work... They might have been lost to us, but that's just part of the discovery--in the realization ... Read More

In Charlotte Gordon's fascinating biography, Mistress Bradstreet, Anne Bradstreet emerges as "an electrifying personality"--the first New World poet with her bestselling volume of American poetry. Experience Anne Bradstreet like never ... Read More

Is it forbidden, lost, found, or just plain romance? Read more the love, romance, and also about Valentine's Day in literature... Take a look at a few books about ... Read More

Jude the Obscure features one of those catch-in-your-throat, tragic scenes in literature, particularly when you aren't prepared for it. In 1895, when Thomas Hardy first published his novel, the ... Read More

How do you react to literature? Does a book or a poem ever strike you in a powerful way? Do you ever feel like writing about it: getting all of ... Read More

Love letters express the unexpressible emotions between two individuals. These collections feature the letters of writers like Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Dylan Thomas, Franz Kafka, George Sand, ... Read More

You don't have to read Romeo and Juliet to get your fill of "star-crossed" lovers this Valentine's Day season. Astrophil and Stella, by Sir Philip Sidney, is a sonnet ... Read More

From Laurie Viera Rigler, the author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (http://janeaustenaddict.com.) There's something terribly exciting about taking part in a national event, be it the presidential debates or ... Read More

Howards End is a Romantic novel by E.M. Forster. The book was first published in 1910. In the novel, E.M. Forster writes: "Only connect! That was the whole of her ... Read More

Groundhog Day (or Groundhog's Day) is an interesting story in itself. Just think for a moment... People get together and watch to see whether a little rodent-looking creature (okay, he's ... Read More

A library is the grand place where books live. For those that love reading and collecting literature, a library can be a magical place of the imagination. It's a great ... Read More

I wondered what would be written about the recent endorsement of Toni Morrison for the Obama camp. My wondering didn't wait long... John Freeman posted a discussion on The Guardian Book ... Read More