By Taylor Jasmine | On November 3, 2018 | Updated March 8, 2023 | Comments (2)
Anne Sexton (1928 – 1974) was an American poet considered one of the pioneers of modern confessional poetry, though her artistry reached far beyond that genre. Her first collection, To Bedlam and Part Way Back, was published in 1960 to critical and public praise. It was followed by All My Pretty Ones in 1962.
During this period, Anne was receiving not only critical praise but prestigious awards as well. These included the Frost Fellowship, the Shelley Memorial Prize, a Ford Foundation grant, and many others.
Sexton struggled mightily with mental illness during this fertile time in her creative life. By the time she won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1966, she had been hospitalized and attempted suicide several times. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On October 26, 2018 | Updated August 7, 2026 | Comments (0)
Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein (1874 – 1946) is this gloriously perplexing author’s absurdist collection of prose-poems — if you want to call them that. Critics have long been divided as to whether this 1914 book is a brilliant compilation of cubist literature or Stein’s intentional prank on the reading public.
One of Stein’s earliest published works, Tender Buttons is an experiment in language, her attempt to “create a word relationship between the word and the things seen.” Since Stein was so much the self-proclaimed genius, it’s doubtful she would have created this slim volume purely as a joke. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On October 6, 2018 | Updated January 10, 2026 | Comments (4)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, published in 1938, is arguably the most iconic of the prolific British author’s novels. During the British author’s lifetime, critics frequently dismissed her work because it was popular with the public — readable and riveting. That view has since been revised.
Rebecca celebrated its eightieth anniversary of publication in 2018, never having gone out of print. It was an immediate bestseller upon publication, selling more than a million copies in hardcover in a short time. It has been reprinted countless times, and translated into numerous languages. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On September 28, 2018 | Updated December 24, 2021 | Comments (0)
Martha Gellhorn (1908 – 1998) reported on nearly every global conflict, from the Spanish Civil War to Vietnam, that took place during her 60-year career as a journalist.
She’s considered one of the greatest war correspondents of the twentieth century. It’s a fitting legacy, but she also produced a body of fine fiction. The Wine of Astonishment (1948) is directly inspired by her first-hand experiences as a World War II correspondent.
The protagonist of the novel, Jacob Levy, witnessed the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, and the shock of the experience changes everything. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On September 9, 2018 | Updated April 25, 2022 | Comments (0)
We the Living (1936) was the first published novel by Ayn Rand, the ever-controversial Russian-American novelist. Set in post-revolutionary Russia, it reflected Rand’s opposition to communism and totalitarianism. It was, in her own estimation, her most semi-autobiographical.
Though the reviews the book received upon its initial publication were mixed, it became a bestseller. This set the stage for the popularity of her subsequent novels, especially The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which sold like gangbusters — even though critics were even less kind to them.
Many reviews of We the Living appreciated the direct look at the effects of Soviet policies on society, but felt the writing was heavy-handed. As the New York Times put it, the book seemed “slavishly warped to the dictates of propaganda.” Read More→
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