Education

Articles Index

'Christopher Marlowe - Poet & Spy' Review

Christopher Marlowe: Poet and Spy goes beyond a simple exploration of the life and controversies of that enigmatic English writer; in this biography, Park Honan re-evaluates everything that has been said about Christopher Marlowe in an effort to draw aside the curtain that has for so long obscured our vision of the poet and the man. Now, we begin to see the man behind the legend. And, we may just find more fascination in the real Christopher Marlowe than in any myth... Read on.

'A Clean Well-Lighted Place' Review

The name of Ernest Hemingway towers above them in literary history. He is memorable not only for what he did (creating some great works of literature, including Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises), but also for what he didn't do. He didn't use an excess of words and language in his books. He is known for brevity.

'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' Review

A Portrait of the Artist of as a Young Man--along with Ulysses and Finnigans Wake--is a part of the series of masterpieces of modernist prose by one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, James Joyce.

'The Bell Jar' Review

Written in the early 1960s, and Sylvia Plath's only full-length prose work, The Bell Jar is an autobiographical novel that relates the childhood longings and descent into madness of Plath's alter-ego, Esther Greenwood. Read more about this famous and controversial book.

'Jane Eyre' Review

Jane Eyre is the rare book that manages to be good by virtue of ineffable charm alone, despite not having very much going for it in terms of overall plot. Read more about Jane Eyre, in this review by John Thornton.

'Of Mice and Men' Review

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a touching tale of the friendship between two very different men--set against the backdrop of the United States during the depression of the 1930s. Read more about Of Mice and Men, in this review from James Topham.

'The Picture of Dorian Gray' Review

Oscar Wilde's only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) is a classic instance of the aestheticism of the late 19th century's English literature... For greater emphasis, Wilde defines the artist as free of ethical sympathies and morbidity. Read more about the novel.

'The Great Gatsby' Review

The Great Gatsby is probably F. Scott Fitzgerald's greatest novel--a book that offers damning and insightful views of the American nouveau riche in the 1920s. Read more about it.

'Heart of Darkness' Review

Written by Joseph Conrad on the eve of the century that would see the end of the empire that it so significantly critiques, Heart of Darkness is both an adventure story set at the center of a continent represented through breathtaking poetry, as well as a study of the inevitable corruption that comes from the exercise of tyrannical power.

'Brave New World' Review

In a futuristic society based on pleasure without moral repercussions, Aldous Huxley places a few oddball characters to stir up the plot. Read more about Brave New World.

'The Importance of Being Earnest' Review

The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde's most well-known and best loved play, as well as being an enormous success in his lifetime. Read more about this comedy of manners, with this review.

'Our Mutual Friend' Review

Are generations of high school students wrong in thinking that Charles Dickens is one of the most boring writers ever to write what in many cases amounts to soap operas for money? Read more about Our Mutual Friend, in this review from John Thornton.

'The Eyre Affair' Review

Charlotte Bronte's tale of Jane Eyre is a Gothic adventure tale. This tale of romance and the supernatural has fascinated readers for generations, and has inspired adaptations on and off the big screen. But, with The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde takes Jane Eyre to a different reality.

'Hard Times' Review

Hard Times, first published in 1854, is short--compared to the other major novels of Charles Dickens. It is divided into three parts: Sowing, Reaping, and Garnering.

'David Copperfield' Review

David Copperfield is probably the most autobiographical novel by Charles Dickens. He uses many incidents of his childhood and early life to create a considerable fictional achievement.

'Mansfield Park' Review

While Jane Austen is sometimes seen as the creator of a generalized storyline extended in the form of different novels, each of her works is unique in one way or the other. Read more about Mansfield Park, in this review by Ernest Dempsey.

'When Washington Was in Vogue' Review

When Washington Was in Vogue is a love story--told in a series of letters from Davy Carr to Bob Fletcher, a friend in Harlem. The book is remarkable as the first epistolary novel in African-American literary history, and as an important contribution to the Harlem Renaissance.

'Dust Tracks on the Road' Review

Zora Neale Hurston wrote stories, novels, plays, and folklore. A born storyteller, she was part of the Harlem Renaissance of African-American writers. Read more about Zora Neale Hurston.

'The Scarlet Pimpernel' Review

The Scarlet Pimpernel is very much in the swashbuckling tradition of Alexandre Dumas and Sir Walter Scott. The novel follows the adventures of a shadowy Englishman who rescues French aristocrats at the time of the French Revolution.

'Mrs. Dalloway' Review

Mrs. Dalloway is a complex and compelling modernist novel by Virginia Woolf. It is a wonderful study of its principal characters. The novel enters into the consciousness of the people it takes as it subjects, creating a powerful, psychologically authentic effect. Although quite rightly numbered amongst the most famed modernist writers--such as Proust, Joyce and Lawrence--Woolf is often considered to be a much gentler artist, lacking the darkness of the male contingent of the movement.