By Harriet Guest (NHC Fellow, 1989–90) During the second half of the eighteenth century, the social role of educated women and the nature of domesticity were the focus of widespread debate in Britain. The emergence of an identifiably feminist voice in that debate is the subject of Harriet Guest’s new study, which explores how small … Continued
Edited by John Sekora (NHC Fellow, 1982–83) and Darwin T. Turner
By Edwin M. Duval (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) By analyzing the “design” of the Third Book – its formal composition as well as its underlying intention – E. Duval brings out the deep coherence of a work that is most often passed for ambiguous and “Menippean”. This coherence, which manifests itself simultaneously at two levels (that of … Continued
By Alexander Welsh (NHC Fellow, 2008–09) For about three thousand years comedy has applied a welcome humanist perspective to the world’s religious beliefs and practices. From the ancient Greek comedies of Aristophanes, the famous poem by Lucretius, and dialogues of Cicero to early modern and Enlightenment essays and philosophical texts, together with the inherent skepticism … Continued
By Patricia Clare Ingham (NHC Fellow, 2012–13) Despite the prodigious inventiveness of the Middle Ages, the era is often characterized as deeply suspicious of novelty. But if poets and philosophers urged caution about the new, Patricia Clare Ingham contends, their apprehension was less the result of a blind devotion to tradition than a response to … Continued
By Guido GuinizzelliEdited and translated by Robert R. Edwards (NHC Fellow, 1985–86)
By Linda Gregerson (NHC Fellow, 1991–92) Mark Strand called these poems "among the very best being written." Bravely exploring the ways in which we encounter mortality, they emphasize the resourcefulness of the human spirit, the intelligence of the body, the abundant beauty of the created world. Devotional, even celebratory in their cadence, they move with … Continued
By Daniel C. Snell (NHC Fellow, 1989–90) The Book of Proverbs is permeated with patterns of repetition, yet to date no major work on Proverbs has dealt adequately with this phenomenon. Snell catalogs and analyzes repetitive words and verses and uses the data to draw conclusions about the composition of the book. He sees four … Continued
By James L. W. West, III (NHC Fellow, 1981–82) William Styron was one of the most highly regarded and controversial authors of his generation. In this illuminating biography, James L. W. West III draws upon letters, papers, and manuscripts as well as interviews with Styron’s friends and family to recount in rich detail the experiences … Continued
By Blyden Jackson (NHC Fellow, 1981–82; 1982–83)