The Great Gatsby and The Death of Subtlety
The newest Hollywood rendition of The Great Gatsby is more lavish, colorful, loud and crazy than ever before. So why does it feel like something’s missing? For anyone who has […]
Everything You Needed to Know about F.Scott Fitzgerald
Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming rendition of The Great Gatsby has many people excited, but beyond our distorted view of the Roaring twenties, few actually know about the triumphant, tumultuous and troubled […]
Fifteen Essential Novels About New York City
“I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone’s away. There’s something very sensuous about it – overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into […]
Qwiklit Presents: A Gatsby-themed Reading Playlist
With The Great Gatsby coming out at the end of the week and the warmth of this Northern Hemisphere increasing everyday, I’ve created a playlist inspired by summer and Fitzgerald’s great American classic. A mix of the old and new, this playlist combines Blues, Dixie Jazz of the 1920’s, Electroswing and some modern indie-pop to create a warm and nostalgic experience for […]
20 Classic Novels You’ve Never Heard of
When I ask people about their favorite classic novels, I usually get a similar response from everybody: Jane Austen, A couple Brontës’, A few Dickens’, an odds-and-ends collection of complex […]
Method to the Madness: 10 Essential Novels About Insanity
Authors have often been bound to the cruelties of their own obsession. When inspiration strikes in all hours of the day, when writing a single sentence can exhaust the most […]
You Should Know: Canadian Author Alexander Macleod
By Alex Carey For a former runner, Alexander MacLeod is a meticulous writer. His first short story was published at the tender age of twenty-one, and his first collection arrives […]
25 Rare Photos of Famous Authors
“The trouble with fiction… is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.” – Aldous Huxley from The Doors of Perception “For a country to have a great writer […]
10 Essential Novels From India
Over a century ago, Rudyard Kipling wrote his infamous “White-Man’s Burden” poem, directing it towards the Indian populace subject to colonial rule. While his poem is today derided for its virulently racist tone, it […]
You Should Know: Canadian Author David Adams Richards
David Adams Richards has been whispered of in Canlit conversations since he was an undergrad in at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick. Richards cut his teeth at the Ice House, a well-known retreat for Atlantic Canadian writers during the 1960’s. He didn’t even finish his undergrad, as his unfinished novel The Coming of Winter was picked up for a […]
10 Essential Prairie Novels
The American and Canadian Prairies are usually portrayed as one of two things: Either a desolate landscape inspiring ennui or a homely locale containing more genuine folk. These novels prove that the Prairies hold anything but; From frontier westerns to psychological explorations of the self, these ten works assure that literature leaves no land—however barren—untouched. The Englishman’s Boy – Guy […]
The New Canon: 15 Modern Classics You Should Read Right Now
People may tell you that literature is dying, but plenty of authors are hard at work redefining the book world with groundbreaking and mind-bending works sure to be read and reread for quite some time. With so many books vying to be the next “Great American Novel”, this is merely a list of those who have earned their eminence and […]
10 Essential Comic Books and Graphic Novels
Here are ten graphic novels and comic books worth a look. The list explores many groundbreaking works that have kept the medium popular well into the information age. Let us […]
When Chinua Achebe Stood Up to a Giant
As we now mourn and celebrate the passing of one of the pioneers of African literature, I just want to look back at one of Achebe’s most controversial moments. In 1977, the Nigerian author wrote “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’” in the Massachusetts Review, and since then, the short essay has become a major counterpoint to much of […]
50 Reasons You Should Be A Bookworm
Let’s face it: I’m a bookworm. Some people might think that spending hours mulling over an old paperback edition of a Russian novel will help you with nothing. But there […]
In Defense of the Humanities
The Humanities has become the butt of a lot of jokes on college campuses. Apparently, it’s the degree that’ll get you that waiter or barista job you’ve been dreaming of since you were a child. And guess what? You’ll be serving all those business and engineering majors five dollar frappés from Starbucks. Arts majors can dream about the bourgeois life while the others […]