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"The Bet" is a short story by Anton Pavlovich Chekov, written in 1889. It centers on a bet that is made one night between a banker and a young lawyer at a party of intellectuals. The banker, a successful millionaire and gambler bets the lawyer...

“A Grave” is one of Marianne Moore’s most well-known poems. It was initially called “Graveyard,” and was first published in The Dial in July of 1924; it was revised slightly for its appearance in 1924’s Observations. It was the first to be...

“The Paper Nautilus” is a short, personal, and evocative poem. It was written in 1940 for Moore’s friend and mentee Elizabeth Bishop after the younger poet gifted Moore an actual nautilus shell. It may have been the same nautilus shell Bishop’s...

“The Steeple-Jack” was first included in Moore's 1932 collection Poetry in 1932, where it was part of a triptych, which comprised “Part of a Novel, Part of a Poem, Part of a Play.” “The Steeple-Jack” formed the “novel” part of the triptych and was...

“Poetry” was published in 1921 as a lyric poem written in free verse. Moore tinkered with this poem a couple times and in her 1967 Complete Poems of Marianne Moore she reduced it to just three lines: “I, too, dislike it. / Reading it, however,...

Reflecting on the genesis of La La Land, writer and director Damien Chazelle said, "I guess you write what you know...There is something to be said for having even unrealistic dreams. Even if the dreams don’t come true—that to me is what’s...

The Mirror Maker was published in 1989 and is the translated English version of a select number of Primo Levi's previously published stories and essays. Levi would submit a new piece of literature to the centrist Italian newspaper La Stampa on a...

Aleksandar Hemon, a Bosnian stuck in Chicago in the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992, often portrays his main characters as Bosnian writers who try to adapt to a culture drastically different from one they were accustomed to. Hemon is most famous for his...

"The Drover's Wife" is one of Lawson's most famous short stories. Set in the Australian bush, it is the tale of a woman facing off against a snake in order to protect herself and her children. The character's stoicism and quiet heroism, as well as...

The Storyteller is one of the best-known short stories written by Saki, the pen name of author H. H. Munro. It was first published in 1897; as was customary at the time, it was published in newspapers before its publication in a collection of...

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is one of the most famous, beloved, and lauded works of American letters; it is also the first autobiography to achieve widespread popularity and is a classic of the genre. It sheds light on the life of one...

Written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, The Shining was released by Warner Brothers in 1980 and based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. It was the twelfth feature film by Kubrick and was met with colossal critical success....

Stephen Leacock enjoyed the privilege of studying economics under the tutelage of the most prescient and greatest economist America has yet—and likely will ever—produce: Thornstein Veblen. Vebelen’s writings are notorious dense and aesthetic; he...

My Brother Jack is George Johnston's classic 1964 novel that tells the story of two brothers and how the cope with grief, death, and loss in their own separate ways. The novel is semi autobiographical and takes place during the tumultuous times of...

Jodi Picoult is an American author who writes novels targeted at both adolescents and adults, choosing themes and language that will allow a wide audience to connect with the story. The Pact, Picoult's fifth book, does exactly this. The plot...

Paul Fisher, the protagonist of Tangerine, has bad eyes, but this doesn’t mean he’s blind. In fact Paul sees through most things in his upper middle class community—a sterile housing development in Tangerine County, Florida, called Lake Windsor...

The Sign of the Four is a novel starring the characters Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote it in 1889 after Joseph M Stoddart, the managing editor of Lippincott’s Monthly, commissioned the story. Lippincott’s was an...

"The Monkey's Paw" is a chilling and suspenseful short story by W.W Jacobs, first included in Harper’s Magazine and then published in England in 1902 in his collection "The Lady of the Barge." The story has been included in dozens of collections,...

The Assault is a historical novel written by Dutch author Harry Mulisch. The novel was translated and published in English in 1985 by Random House. The story is partially based on a true event that happened during World War II. The Assault tells...

Jennifer L. Morgan's Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery is an academic work that was published in 2004. Morgan received her B.A. from Oberlin College in 1986, and completed her PhD in 1995 at Duke University. Morgan now...

Synge's one-act play Riders to the Sea (1904) deals with the lives and manners of a cross-section of humanity. While the play is concerned with local matters, Synge represents these matters with a universal interest. In other words, Synge, like...

Bret Harte’s short story “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” is one of the most anthologized examples of the subgenre of American literature known as Regionalism. The identifying characteristics of Regionalism include an emphasis on replicating dialect...

The Lesser Blessed (1996) is a coming-of-age novel by Richard Van Camp that tells the story of Larry Sole, a Native growing up in the forests of Canada. Larry befriends Johnny Beck, who is new to the area. Johnny, however, is in a relationship...

"Christmas Bells" is both an occasional poem written during the Civil War, and a general message about having hope during times of despair. Longfellow wrote it on December 25th, 1863; it was published in a juvenile magazine in 1865 and included in...