Jane Austen has been reincarnated in the personage of Kazuo Ishiguro. The great novelist of early-nineteenth-century English manners, who observed the moral inconsistencies of the nobility and argued for a form of social meritocracy, could not have hoped for a more loyal and perfect heir to her legac

Composed, Contemplative, Demure, Melancholy, Modernist literature, Tragic

Imagine the short story as poetry. And imagine that Alice Munro isn't merely a writer -- she is a literary alchemist, stirring, distilling, testing, and violating the language and conventions of the short story with breathtaking results. As fellow short-story writer Lorrie Moore observed, "It's the s

Composed, Dense, Domestic, Elegant, Low realism

The work of Jacob Lawrence brings African American history to the walls of museums and galleries when many American schools neglect to bring it into the classroom. Early in life, he became a student of African American history and depicted its richness in his colorful narratives: the "Toussaint L'Ouv

African american fiction, Composed, Eclectic, Geometric, Harlem renaissance art, Mythic, Polychromatic

The nineteenth century was a literary age characterized by Realism in prose and Romanticism in poetry. If the poems of Emily Dickinson had been published during her lifetime, however,things might have been very different. Dickinson's work is full of revolutionary impulses, despite her reclusive lifes

Composed, Contemplative, Implosive, Intimate, Minimal, Romantic poetry, Women's literature