Harry Potter is the literary phenomenon of the past century, and while our society has had no difficulty celebrating J.K. Rowling’s work, the literary community has been somewhat slower in figuring ...

Where post-colonial theory holds a special place in the world of literature, post-colonial criticism – akin to analogous cultural studies – holds an exclusive viewpoint on literature and politics.

Build your reading list with our weekly Books newsletter. Sign up today. Norwegian writer Torbjorn Ekelund’s new book is called In Praise of Paths, but in it he returns several times to our habit of ...

One of the most pervasive themes in American literature is “the search for identity.” Our earliest authors celebrated literary characters who separated from family, ancestry, and the past to head west ...

Lent is a time for forgoing worldly pleasures and opting to spend time in spiritual reflection and meditation. As Christians mark the period leading up to Easter — Ash Wednesday, which signals the ...

David Ulin may be incapable of seeing the big themes in Los Angeles literature (“Anthology, Like L.A., Goes Its Own Way,” Sept. 2), but that doesn’t mean they are not there. The major influence of ...

A rather spiritually deep recurring theme in 19th Century American literature has puzzled me for years, and you may have noticed it as well. During the 1900’s a number of sea-going, adventurous novels ...

From medieval times, when the “Golden Horde” ruled Russia, the country has had historical links with Islam, which today is Russia’s second largest religion. So it’s not surprising that Islamic motifs ...

Shoppers look through shelves and racks at AlleyCrafts on Saturday afternoon during the Read Banned Books literature-themed vendor market. Local author H. Dean Fisher holds his book ‘Medusa: Rise of a ...