29 November (1821): Percy Bysshe Shelley to Joseph Severn
In spite of his transcendent genius, Keats never was, nor ever will be, a popular poet; and the total neglect and obscurity in which the astonishing remnants of his mind still lie…
28 November (1874): Robert Louis Stevenson to Fanny Sitwell
However, thank God it is life I want, and nothing posthumous, and for two good emotions I would sacrifice a thousand years of fame…
27 November (1916): Virginia Woolf to Saxon Sydney-Turner
If you dont sleep or eat, your feelings will become so much of a puzzle that you’ll waste these exquisite days merely scratching your head. For I’m convinced they are exquisite days—more entirely exquisite for you than for most, because all your feelings are so true…
"The Snob" & "Try"From the Print
She watched a boy on the bus with his knee up under his chin. Some people might think the boy would be worried that he was ill-fitted for his undiscovered future, that he already had something like a belief in his own failure…
Ragnarök on the Seine
The convicted Norwegian murderer and black metal icon, Kristian ‘Varg’ Vikernes, is to appear at a hearing before the public prosecutor, having been charged with one count of public provocation of racial hatred, and one of glorifying crimes of war and crimes against humanity…
26 November (1846): Fyodor Dostoevsky to Mikhail Dostoevsky
Brother, I am undergoing not only a moral, but a physical, metamorphosis.
Review: Javier Marías’ "The Infatuations"From the Print
Javier Marías’ long, comma-riddled sentences are frequently compared to Henry James’, a comparison he has at times courted, though this comparison does Mr. Marías no favors…
25 November (1974): Ted Hughes to Gerald and Joan Hughes
The farm, you’ll be amused to hear, is still afloat—which is a miracle, considering the numbers of farmers going bankrupt, selling up, blowing their brains out…
22 November (1829): William Makepeace Thackeray to Anne Carmichael-Smythe
I am sitting in a mans rooms with a most excellent bottle of Claret before me to wh. I have paid sincere & frequent visits, I have however valorously broken the cork into the bottle, & there being no corkscrew, must abstain from further potation…
Review: Jonathan Lethem’s "Dissident Gardens"From the Print
So, Jonathan Lethem never writes a single novel when he can write three novels rolled into one, and Dissident Gardens is no exception…