Tom Stoppard's intention is always to entertain, first and foremost. Though his plays are intellectually and philosophically rigorous, they're also good stories told with voluble wit. Sometimes he takes too easy a road to difficult issues in science and history, and for this he has been criticized by

Clever, Contemplative, Contemporary plays, Dense, Quirky, Sophisticated

As an inquisitive woman with a critical eye, and as a member of the Chinese Communist Party who portrayed its flaws in her fiction, Ding Ling found herself in a precarious position. Her progressive vision moved her to both revere and criticize the Communist Party -- her critiques earned her ten years

Clever, Feminist, Pioneering, Political, Rebel, Women's literature

Oscar Wilde pursued a life -- an art -- of pure uselessness. This was not because he objected to pragmatic pursuits, if kept in their proper place: "We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it inten

Aestheticist fiction, Clever, Mythic, Perverse, Surreal, Witty

Saul Bellow became one of the twentieth century's great novelists by following the dictum that is repeated to all young fiction writers: Write what you know. Beginning with his first novel, Bellow's voice spoke from the center of his life and times. "The Dangling Man" (1944) tells the story of a youn

Anxiety, Clever, Jewish literature, Post-war literature, Psychological, Sophisticated