The Bluest Eye

from The New Yorker Toni Morrison’s Profound and Unrelenting Vision “The Bluest Eye,” which was published fifty years ago, cut a new path through the American literary landscape by placing black girls at the center of the story. By Hilton Als Morrison in 1970, the...

Liz Wurtzel Gone

from CNN Elizabeth Wurtzel, a controversial writer whose work will live on Opinion by Holly Thomas Elizabeth Wurtzel was a pioneer of the confessional memoir. The opposite of controversial is irrelevant. So believed Elizabeth Wurtzel, who was herself controversial and...

First Illustrated Book Found

from The Observer The Oldest Copy of the First Illustrated Book Has Been Discovered in Egypt By Helen Holmes Detail from one of the coffins of Gua, chief physician of Djehutyhotep, governor of Bersha. The paintings recall drawings from the Book of Two Ways. Werner...

Steinbeck’s Knickknacks

from The Observer John Steinbeck’s Weirdest Knickknacks Are Going Up for Auction in February By Helen Holmes John Steinbeck smoking a cigarette at his home in Sag Harbor, Long Island. Getty Images Within the context of an ultra-modern 21st century that’s increasingly...