Inexplicable, almost unthinkable acts of violence; audacious, nihilistic, adolescent self-righteousness: Looking for ISIS in a 1907 novel... more »
Cervantes’s career as a soldier ended in injury, not glory. But rather than cynical, he became ambivalent, as his characters showed... more »
Widowed, Patrick Brontë sought a new wife with remarkable crassness and egotism. What, if anything, did his literary daughters learn from him?... more »