Literature

Luminous essays on translation and self-translation by an award-winning writer and literary translator

A splendid new translation of an extraordinary work of modern literature—featuring facing-page commentary by Kafka’s acclaimed biographer

An entrancing new telling of ancient Greek myths

“This book is a triumph! . . . [A] magnificent retelling of the Greek myths.”—Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series

Fascinating profiles of modern writers and artists who tapped the political potential of fairy tales

A delightful collection of modern Chinese tales

A collection of magical Italian folk and fairy tales—most in English for the first time

How decolonization and the cold war influenced literature from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean

Sicily and the strategies of empire in the poetic imagination of classical and medieval Europe

How the concept of “deep time” began as a metaphor used by philosophers, poets, and naturalists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

A look at how ideas of translation, migration, and displacement are embedded in the works of prominent artists, from Ovid to Tacita Dean

A groundbreaking account of translation and identity in the Chinese literary tradition before 1850—with important ramifications for today

A new, beautifully illustrated translation of Felix Salten’s celebrated novel Bambi—the original source of the beloved story

The definitive English translation of the classic Sanskrit epic poem—now available in a one-volume paperback

A bold reconception of ancient Greek drama by one of the most brilliant and original classical scholars of his generation

Why we must learn to tell new stories about our relationship with the earth if we are to avoid climate catastrophe

A rich history of underwater filmmaking and how it has profoundly influenced the aesthetics of movies and public perception of the oceans

How English has become a language of the people in India—one that enables the state but also empowers protests against it

A passionate, wry, and personal book about how the greatest works of literature illuminate our lives

An inviting and highly readable new translation of Aristotle’s complete Poetics—the first and best introduction to the art of writing and understanding stories

A leading trans scholar and activist explores cultural representations of gender transition in the modern period

Revisiting an almost-forgotten American interracial literary culture that advanced racial pluralism in the decades before the 1960s

A collection of new and startlingly original essays from an acclaimed poet, essayist, and playwright

From the award-winning biographer of Chaucer, the story of his most popular and scandalous character, from the Middle Ages to #MeToo

How nineteenth-century “disciplines of attention” anticipated the contemporary concern with mindfulness and being “spiritual but not religious”

An entertaining and illuminating collection of weird, wonderful, and downright baffling words from the origins of English—and what they reveal about the lives of the earliest English speakers

How Black poets have charted the direction of American poetics for the past two centuries

From the UK Poet Laureate and bestselling translator, a spirited book that demystifies and celebrates the art of poetry today

Why a monumental diary by an aunt and niece who published poetry together as “Michael Field”—and who were partners and lovers for decades—is one of the great unknown works of late-Victorian and early modernist literature

A literary and cultural history of coral—as an essential element of the marine ecosystem, a personal ornament, a global commodity, and a powerful political metaphor

What Thoreau can teach us about working—why we do it, what it does to us, and how we can make it more meaningful

A unique look at how classical notions of ascent and flight preoccupied early modern British writers and artists

From their acclaimed biographer, a final, powerful book about how Emerson, Thoreau, and William James forged resilience from devastating loss, changing the course of American thought

A fascinating portrait of a radical age through the writers associated with a London publisher and bookseller—from William Wordsworth and Mary Wollstonecraft to Benjamin Franklin

On the 100th anniversary of T. S. Eliot’s modernist masterpiece, a rich cultural history of The Waste Land’s creation, explosive impact, and enduring influence

The extraordinary life story of the celebrated artist and writer, as told through four decades of intimate letters to her beloved mother

The definitive biography of a pivotal figure in American literary history

From the Nobel Prize–winning writer, a new collection of literary and personal essays

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography

A double portrait of two of America’s most influential writers that reveals the surprising connections between them—and their uncanny relevance to our age of crisis

Revelatory talks about art and life with internationally acclaimed Israeli novelist Amos Oz

A unique look at Thomas Mann’s intellectual and political transformation during the crucial years of his exile in the United States

The first of two volumes of the eagerly anticipated first complete edition of Auden’s poems—including some that have never been published before

The second of two volumes of the eagerly anticipated first complete edition of Auden’s poems—including some that have never been published before

A revealing look at how the Orpheus myth helped Renaissance writers and thinkers understand the force of eloquence

A major reinterpretation of Horace's famous literary manual

A major new interpretation of Vergil's epic poem as a struggle between two incompatible versions of the Homeric hero

How the idea of the author was born in the battleground of gender

Award-winning new translations of a major contemporary Italian poet

Contemporary translations and adaptations of ancient Greek poet Callimachus by noted writer and critic Stephanie Burt

A bilingual volume that reveals an intriguing world of courtly love and satire in medieval Portugal and Spain

From the UK Poet Laureate and bestselling translator of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a complete verse translation of a spirited and humorous medieval English poem

An innovative and inviting book of poems about the places where language and landscape converge

The debut collection of an exciting new voice in poetry

From the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, a new collection of philosophical, elegiac, and wry meditations on film, painting, music, and poetry itself

Compelling poems that celebrate language as it encounters the nameless variety of the natural world, from Australia to Italy

An essential guide to cultivating joy in your professional and personal writing

A practical guide to effective grant writing for researchers at all stages of their academic careers

How you can enrich your life by becoming a more skillful and engaged reader of literature

How redesigning your syllabus can transform your teaching, your classroom, and the way your students learn

From the bestselling author of What the Best College Teachers Do, the story of a new breed of amazingly innovative courses that inspire students and improve learning

A practical and compact guide to writing for professionals

A groundbreaking biography of Milton’s formative years that provides a new account of the poet’s political radicalization

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, chosen by Tom Stoppard

"A revelation."—Marc Weingarten, Washington Post

From twenty-seven of today’s leading writers, an anthology of original pieces on the author of Walden

Features essays by Jennifer Finney Boylan • Kristen Case • George Howe Colt • Gerald Early • Paul Elie • Will Eno • Adam Gopnik • Lauren Groff • Celeste...

An outstanding anthology in which notable musicians, artists, scientists, thinkers, poets, and more—from Gustavo Dudamel and Carrie Mae Weems to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Paul Muldoon—explore the influence of music on their lives and work

Contributors include: Laurie...

How four American cities shaped Poe's life and writings

A literary and cultural history of the intimate space of the eighteenth-century closet—and how it fired the imaginations of Pepys, Sterne, Swift, and so many other writers

Without Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), we simply would not understand Shakespeare in the way we do. In fact, much literature and art besides Shakespeare would neither look the same nor be the same without the influence of...

A reexamination of Austen’s unpublished writings that uncovers their continuity with her celebrated novels—and that challenges distinctions between her “early” and “late” work

The first comprehensive biography of an extraordinary English poet and composer whose life was haunted by fighting in the First World War and, later, confinement in a mental asylum

The definitive biography of a leading twentieth-century French writer

Bestselling novelist Alexander McCall Smith's charming account of how the poet W. H. Auden has helped guide his life—and how he might guide yours, too

A vivid and original account of one of Ireland’s greatest poets by an acclaimed Irish historian and literary biographer

The fascinating history of French words that have entered the English language and the fertile but fraught relationship between English- and French-speaking cultures across the world

Notable writers—including UK poet laureate Simon Armitage, Julian Barnes, Margaret MacMillan, and Jenny Uglow—celebrate our fascination with the houses of famous literary figures, artists, composers, and politicians of the past

A major new history of the race between two geniuses to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Europe

From the author of the definitive biography of Fyodor Dostoevsky, never-before-published lectures that provide an accessible introduction to the Russian writer's major works

From a leading figure in comparative literature, a major new survey of the field that points the way forward for a discipline undergoing rapid changes

The first book to explore how African American writing and art engaged with visions of Ethiopia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

The first comprehensive look at how Victorian fiction and British psychoanalysis shaped each other

Named one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time by the Modern Library

Anne Carson’s remarkable first book about the paradoxical nature of romantic love

A landmark work of literary criticism

From one of the great modern writers, the acclaimed lectures in which he draws on a lifetime of experience to take the measure of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets

An essential work of the cinematic history of the Weimar Republic by a leading figure of film criticism

A classic work on radical aesthetics by one of the great philosophers of the early twentieth century

From its first publication in 1992, Men, Women, and Chain Saws has offered a groundbreaking perspective on the creativity and influence of horror cinema since the mid-1970s. Investigating the popularity of the low-budget tradition...

More than half a century after its translation into English, Erich Auerbach's Mimesis remains a masterpiece of literary criticism. A brilliant display of erudition, wit, and wisdom, his exploration of how great European writers from...

One of the great classics of European literature, Faust is Goethe's most complex and profound work. To tell the dramatic and tragic story of one man’s pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power, Goethe drew from an...

An innovative study of Goya's unprecedented elaboration of the critical function of the work of art

A stunning philosophical and literary account of canonical plague tales

A deep history of storytelling as a civic agency, recalibrating literature’s political role for the twenty-first century

A timely story of a forgotten emotion

A career-spanning account of the artistry and politics of Bob Dylan’s songwriting

How an acceptance of our limitations can lead to a more fulfilling life and a more harmonious society

From a devoted reader and lifelong bookseller, an eloquent and charming reflection on the singular importance of bookstores

An invigorating exploration of the pleasures and social benefits of conversation

A vivid historical imagining of life in the early United States

“One of the richest books ever to come my way.”—Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Shipping News

A richly diverse collection of classical Indian terms for expressing the many moods and subtleties of emotional experience

A fascinating history of marginalized identities in the medieval world

A cultural and literary history of mountains in classical antiquity

How playwrights from Alfred Jarry and Samuel Beckett to Tom Stoppard and Simon McBurney brought the power of abstract mathematics to the human stage