Introduction On October 14, 1926, A. A. Milne published Winnie-the-Pooh, illustrated by E. H. Shepard. A hundred years later, its characters remain among the most beloved in children's literature.But there is something remarkable about the world these two men created.Both had served in World War I. They belonged to a generation that had witnessed … [Read more...] about Winnie-the-Pooh at 100: Hidden Lessons from Scholars
literary analysis
What Happened to Susan in Narnia? Why C.S. Lewis Left Her Behind
The rain had been falling against the windows of The Kilns for most of the evening.Inside, the fire had burned down to a red glow. Books covered the table. Some were open. Others had scraps of paper marking particular pages. C.S. Lewis sat at one end with his pipe resting beside him. Michael Ward had several pages of notes. Alister McGrath had brought a … [Read more...] about What Happened to Susan in Narnia? Why C.S. Lewis Left Her Behind
The Sun Also Rises Themes & Analysis: Questions That Still Matter
Introduction A hundred years after The Sun Also Rises first appeared, the world surrounding Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley is almost unrecognizable. The wars are different, travel is faster, relationships are mediated through phones, gender roles have changed, and people possess freedoms Hemingway’s characters could scarcely have imagined. Yet the novel’s … [Read more...] about The Sun Also Rises Themes & Analysis: Questions That Still Matter
The Sun Also Rises Centennial: Are We a Lost Generation?
Introduction One hundred years after The Sun Also Rises first appeared in 1926, Ernest Hemingway’s characters still feel unexpectedly close to us.Jake Barnes, Lady Brett Ashley, Robert Cohn, Pedro Romero, and Bill Gorton lived in the shadow of the First World War. They inherited a world in which familiar ideas about patriotism, masculinity, love, religion, … [Read more...] about The Sun Also Rises Centennial: Are We a Lost Generation?
War and Peace Meaning: What Tolstoy Wanted Us to See
Introduction What did Tolstoy want us to see when he placed a frightened soldier, a young woman at a ball, a dying father, and a household preparing supper inside the same enormous book? Perhaps he wanted to question the stories we use to decide what matters: greatness, romance, certainty, success, and even happiness.In this fictional conversation, Leo … [Read more...] about War and Peace Meaning: What Tolstoy Wanted Us to See
The Correspondent Book Club Questions: Sybil & Psychology
Introduction What if the story you tell about yourself is true, but incomplete?In Part 1 of our exploration of Virginia Evans's The Correspondent, Sybil Van Antwerp confronted the people who know different versions of her. Fiona remembers the mother shaped by grief. Rosalie remembers an earlier Sybil. Harry discovers vulnerability beneath her fierce … [Read more...] about The Correspondent Book Club Questions: Sybil & Psychology
The Correspondent Explained: Grief, Love & Sybil’s Letters
IntroductionWhat if the people who know us best each know a completely different version of us?Virginia Evans's The Correspondent introduces us to Sybil Van Antwerp, a woman in her seventies whose life unfolds through the letters she writes and receives. Intelligent, independent, direct, and sometimes difficult, Sybil appears to understand herself remarkably … [Read more...] about The Correspondent Explained: Grief, Love & Sybil’s Letters
The Waste Land Explained: What Did T. S. Eliot Mean?
Introduction What was T. S. Eliot really trying to say in The Waste Land?Nearly a century of interpretation has produced familiar answers: postwar disillusionment, spiritual collapse, sexual alienation, cultural fragmentation, loss of faith, and the breakdown of modern civilization.But Eliot himself complicated those explanations. He resisted reducing the … [Read more...] about The Waste Land Explained: What Did T. S. Eliot Mean?
The Waste Land Characters Explained: Eliot’s Broken World
Introduction What if the best way to understand T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land is not to explain its symbols first, but to listen to the people trapped inside them?Published in 1922, The Waste Land is famous for its fragmentation. Voices appear and disappear. Memories collide with the present. A wealthy woman desperately asks someone to speak to her. Lil … [Read more...] about The Waste Land Characters Explained: Eliot’s Broken World
Theo of Golden Book Club Questions: Expert Discussion
Introduction What does it really mean to see another person?In Part 1, Theo of Golden gave us a beautiful answer through Theo's relationships with Asher, Ellen, Kendrick, Mateo, and the people of Golden. But some of the novel's most powerful ideas become more complicated when we examine them closely.Is Theo's ability to see people something psychology … [Read more...] about Theo of Golden Book Club Questions: Expert Discussion