Barbara Kingsolver's 'Demon Copperhead' reframes Dickens for the opioid crisis

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Pulitzer-winning look at the opioid epidemic

Synthetic opioids kill someone in the US every 16 minutes. Communities across the country have been ravaged by deaths, overdoses, jail time, and babies born with drug-related medical problems as opioid abuse became a typical feature of many American towns. This seven-part exposé provides an inside look at the effect in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky.

Dickens' childhood job influenced his novels

After his father was imprisoned, Dickens took up work in a shoe-blacking factory. His novels often featured hardscrabble protagonists, many of them children, forced to navigate the grim realities of the Industrial Revolution. Today, stories that follow in that model are described as "Dickensian."

Poet Robert Lowell encouraged O'Connor to turn away from commercial appeal

When O'Connor secured a publisher for "Wise Blood," her publisher envisioned it as a broad, commercial comedy, something Lowell—the accomplished poet whom she met after graduate school at Yaddo, an artist colony in upstate New York—suggested she avoid, encouraging her to lean into her more esoteric and darker interests. This interview with O'Connor biographer Brad Gooch elaborates on that advice.

The best adaptations of Dickens' books

There have been over 300 screen adaptations of Dickens' works, including 50 of "A Christmas Carol" alone. This list breaks down the best of the bunch, with nods to the Gen X "Great Expectations," the musical rendition of "Oliver Twist," and Dev Patel's take on "David Copperfield."

Watch a Yale professor’s take on O’Connor’s ‘Wise Blood’

O’Connor’s first novel is about Hazel Motes, a World War II veteran who returns home and sets out to form an anti-religious congregation. It’s a striking debut and one that Yale professor Amy Hungerford taught in her course “The American Novel Since 1945.”

Read the works of Charles Dickens

Dickens' work has long been in the public domain, meaning it's freely available to readers. Project Gutenberg's collection of Dickens' novels allows you to read classic novels like "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities," as well as early works like "Sketches by Boz," at no cost.

O’Connor’s stories feature Southern outcasts thrust into bizarre situations

The Deep South is presented as a shadowy place, filled with scheming figures posing as upstanding citizens, like the conniving door-to-door Bible salesman of “Good Country People,” and smug intellectuals receiving their comeuppances, like the condescending college graduate of “Everything That Rises Must Converge.”

When Dickens was 12, his father was imprisoned for debt

John Dickens was imprisoned at Marshalsea Debtors' Prison in London for failing to pay his debts. The experience forced the young Charles to leave school to help provide for his family. It also eventually informed his fiction, which often called for social reform, including the abolition of debtors' prisons.

Charles Dickens transformed Christmas into an important family-centric holiday

When Charles Dickens published "A Christmas Carol" in 1843, its story of an old man's redemption helped reshape the holiday, popularizing themes of generosity, reflection, and family that transformed the Christmas season.

The Washington Post's Janet Cooke returned her Pulitzer

When Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke published her profile of an 8-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy in 1980, it created an instant uproar. Social workers, police officers, and even the mayor of Washington, DC, all jumped into action to try to get the child help, but no one could find him. Within hours of Cooke receiving a Pulitzer for the piece, everything began to unravel as it was revealed that she had fabricated not just Jimmy's story, but her own as well. She eventually returned the award.

Why Percival Everett decided to reimagine 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'

Percival Everett's novel "James"—a retelling of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Jim, an escaped slave—was one of the most acclaimed books of 2024. In this interview, Everett explains why he decided to rework the classic American novel and why he felt it was necessary to infuse his own with a different voice.

Dickens' first novel was a satire informed by his reporting

"The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" was a series of illustrations and accompanying stories serialized in newspapers from 1836 to 1837. Dickens drew on his previous experiences as a Parliamentary reporter to flesh out the story of Samuel Slumkey, a politician running for office. He wins the election thanks to a well-timed bribe.

A teenage Dickens found work as a political journalist

Dickens found work as a reporter for the Mirror of Parliament, a weekly newspaper focused on the British legislature. After a few years, he moved to the Morning Chronicle, where he began producing his creative work. Professor John Drew, author of "Dickens, the Journalist," said that the writer "realized he could wield a much more direct, if not more glamorous kind of power, by using his position as a leading writer of fiction and a magazine editor."

Inside 'Blood Meridian' author Cormac McCarthy's library of 20,000 books

The reclusive writer published 12 novels and taught himself stonemasonry and quantum physics, among myriad other skills and subjects. Since he died in 2023, scholars have been mining his personal library for lessons on his influences, interests, and more.

Scholars believe Dickens wrote over a million words of nonfiction

The author began writing professionally in his teens, first as a court reporter, then for many papers, penning op-eds, criticism, and other miscellany. While Dickens is often discussed as a novelist, he has a massive corpus of works situated in reality.

Despite his sometimes caustic satire, Dickens was ultimately an optimist

Michael Slater, a professor of Victorian literature at Birkbeck College, notes that Dickens' anger at Parliament and social injustice never got in the way of his optimism. "There is a constant allegiance to the lives of ordinary people and their pleasures," he said in a 2001 interview with "In Our Time."

Why Emily Dickinson's poetry remains popular in the 21st century

Dickinson remains widely read and is often considered one of American literature's greatest poets. This short documentary from PBS uses a 2017 museum exhibition on the writer to explore her long-lasting impact, with input from Barbara Howe, a contemporary poet, and Marta Werner, a Dickinson scholar.

Dickens' earliest pieces were under the pseudonym 'Boz'

Dickens began working as a journalist in 1829, publishing his portraits of modern life under a pseudonym. In 1834, he used the pen name "Boz," a reference to his brother's childhood nickname, and eventually published a collection of his stories called "Sketches by Boz." By the 1840s, he'd ditched the pseudonym, enjoying his rarefied literary celebrity.

After finding success as a novelist, Dickens started his own newspaper

Dickens made enough from "Sketches by Boz," "The Pickwick Papers," and "Oliver Twist," that he was able to work full time as a novelist. Still, he was still interested in journalism and decided to publish his own newspaper, the Daily News, in 1846. After 17 issues, he felt he no longer had time to focus on his novels and handed the operation off to a friend.

Charles Dickens' novels inspired a young Norman Rockwell

Rockwell is considered a narrative painter who tells stories through his portraits of everyday Americans. The interest in using images to tell stories began at a young age, when his father read Dickens aloud to him while the young Norman illustrated the books’ scenes.

Toni Morrison's novels were popular postmodern texts

Toni Morrison’s novels broke new ground in American fiction by using bold structures and colloquial voices to reckon with the country’s past, developing her approach through classic early novels like “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved,” all the way to later works like “Home.” Morrison once said, “The meaning of a novel is in its structure.”

'A Christmas Carol' was originally going to be a political pamphlet

Dickens planned to write a treatise on the day's social issues and had a particularly dry working title: "An Appeal to the People of England on behalf of the Poor Man's Child." After a week, though, he decided to rework the ideas into a fictional story, working at a quick pace so it could be released in time for Christmas. It worked: The story was published on December 19, 1843.

Why one Emily Dickinson biographer believed she had epilepsy

Lyndall Gordon's "Lives Like Loaded Guns" points to a "handicap" referenced in several Dickinson poems. According to Gordon, the condition was so stigmatized during Dickinson's life that it made her reclusive. In this NPR interview, Gordon explains why she believes the theory is the best explanation for Dickinson's notorious isolation.

Listen to 3 scholars discuss the work of Emily Dickinson

Fiona Green, Linda Freedman, and Paraic Finnerty—three British academics who study Dickinson—discuss the poet's life, distinctive writing style, and impact on the generations who followed, illustrating that part of Dickinson's appeal lies in her open-ended verse, which invites readers' many interpretations.

Dickens wrote his books as they were serialized in newspapers

Dickens, like many Victorian writers, published his novels as serials that were released piecemeal, over an extended period. Unlike most of his contemporaries, though, Dickens wrote the story as it was released, allowing him to respond to public reactions.

Innovative novelist Don DeLillo wrote an erotic hockey novel under a pseudonym

The acclaimed writer—known for books like "White Noise" and "Underworld"—published "Amazons" in 1980 under the pen name Cleo Birdwell. The story claimed to be a memoir, written by a woman who secretly joined an NHL team. The ruse went beyond the text, too, with a female model posing as Birdwell for promotional events.

In 1996, Stephen King dominated the publishing industry, occupying 6 of the 15 spots on the New York Times bestseller list with his 'Green Mile' books.

Alice Walker admired Flannery O’Connor for her honest portrayal of the South

Walker wrote “The Color Purple,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making her the first Black woman to win the award. In her essay “A South Without Myths,” she calls O’Connor “the first great modern writer from the South,” particularly because her work abandoned nostalgia for the antebellum world.

Diving into 'The Flame and the Flower,' the book that popularized 'bodice ripper' romance

The 1972 Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novel helped create the romance subgenre featuring historical settings and intense, steamy sex scenes. It was an under-the-radar sensation, quietly selling millions of copies while simultaneously courting controversy for its portrayals of rape. In this essay, Jeannette Cooperman revisits the book to see how it reads 50 years after its publication.

A comprehensive biography of Emily Dickinson, the influential American poet

This deep dive into Dickinson's biography includes a fascinating anecdote about her time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary—where she was distinguished from the "established Christians" and deemed "without hope"—as well as the significance of her correspondence with close friend Susan Gilbert, one of her primary readers and eventual sister-in-law.

Ghosts can work as powerful literary devices

Noteworthy American novels like Toni Morrison’s "Beloved" tell us how spirits help deliver information and greater truths unknown to the characters. Wondering about our souls is common in literature, and the phantoms in these tales offer a unique way of contemplating the complicated experience of being human.

'The Dark Night Rises' was inspired by 'A Tale of Two Cities'

The 2012 Batman film makes several allusions to the Dickens novel, with one character even holding a copy of the book in a final scene. Director Christopher Nolan and his brother (and screenwriter) Jonathan Nolan frame Gotham as a place of inequity, much like Dickens does with London and Paris. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

None of Dickens' books has gone out of print

Dickens was a literary celebrity during his lifetime, but his popularity has endured over a century after his death. Publishers have kept his books in print to satisfy demand. It's paid off: "A Tale of Two Cities" alone has sold over 200 million copies.

Dickens' 'Christmas Carol' emphasized charity as central component of the holiday

During Dickens' time, Christmas was primarily associated with celebration, but "A Christmas Carol" defined the holiday as an opportunity to give to others. Dickens hoped that the story—with the miserly Scrooge experiencing a change of heart when he realizes he should care for the less fortunate—would convince readers to recognize they should do the same.

How Dickinson's reputation changed in the 20th century

In 1955, Thomas Johnson edited the first complete edition of Dickinson's poetry, using the original handwritten manuscripts as his guide. Unlike previous editors, Johnson allowed Dickinson's unique choices to remain. The collection established her as a singular, innovative voice, a reputation that only continued growing through the decades.

In 2012, the Pulitzer board chose not to award a prize for literature

The literary world was shocked in 2012 when, for the first time in more than three decades, the Pulitzer board decided not to award a prize for literature. The jury had selected three finalists—Karen Russell's "Swamplandia!," David Foster Wallace's "The Pale King," and Denis Johnson's "Train Dreams"—but no winner.

Dystopian books have grown especially popular with younger audiences

In the late 2000s, Suzanne Collins’s dystopian "The Hunger Games," a young adult book series where impoverished children are pitted against one another for entertainment, spent over five years on The New York Times bestseller list.

From prescriptions to street drugs: Opioids trajectory across America

Exclusive data obtained by The Washington Post from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows how individual counties moved through three waves of the opioid crisis, each wave paving the way for the next. Between 2011 and 2017, the drug responsible for the majority of overdose deaths shifted from prescription pills to heroin to fentanyl. Together, oxycodone, hydrocodone, heroin, and fentanyl have been major drivers in declining life expectancy in the US.

A beginner's guide to Toni Morrison

The legendary American writer died in 2019, but her fiction is still as relevant as ever. This primer walks aspiring Morrison fans through her body of work, outlining the ideal starting point for several different kinds of readers. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Hear 2 literature professors unpack the legacy of 'Animal Farm'

The University of Oxford's David Dwan—a professor of English literature and intellectual history—is an Orwell scholar who has written about the author's politics, especially as they relate to "Animal Farm." In this conversation with Dr. Nathan Waddell, from the University of Birmingham, UK, Dwan explores how framing the novella as a beast fable both made it more accessible and allowed it to be overly simplified.

Take a tour of Charles Dickens' London

Much of Dickens' fiction concerns Victorian London and its people. This tour of the city, led by Dickens biographer Simon Callow, walks you through significant sites, like the place where Dickens' parents were married, the shoe-blacking factory where he worked as a boy, and the place where he created his first magazine.

The story behind David Bowie's failed '1984' musical

The musician hoped to adapt Orwell's dystopian novel for the stage, though the project floundered after Orwell's widow—who found Bowie's vision in poor taste—refused to grant him the rights. Several of the project's songs—including "Big Brother" and "1984"—eventually appeared on Bowie's 1974 album "Diamond Dogs."

'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' the novel that inspired the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz,' was itself inspired by a drought.

Fans loved a minor character, so Dickens made him a major part of 'Pickwick'

Dickens' first serialized novel, "The Pickwick Papers," was selling modestly until he introduced the wisecracking Sam Weller, a cockney character that working-class readers instantly loved. In response to the attention, Dickens made Weller a central figure in the book, turning the series into a bestseller.

Flannery O’Connor’s recommended reading

O’Connor was a rabid reader and a prolific letter writer, often suggesting (and sometimes criticizing) books to friends and admirers. This list distills those recommendations into a compact list, praising Henry James, Edgar Allan Poe, and National Geographic. It’s a good reading list and a fascinating window into O’Connor’s influences.

When the reclusive Thomas Pynchon won the National Book Award, he sent a stand-up comedian to receive the honor

Pynchon's novel "Gravity's Rainbow" won the National Book Award in 1974 (sharing the distinction with Isaac Bashevis Singer's "A Crown of Feathers"), but the writer, who was seldom seen in public, sent the comic "Professor" Irwin Corey in his place. You can read the ridiculously satirical speech, which would be at home in one of Pynchon's novels, in full by clicking through below.

The Dylan/Whitman connection

Even before his 2016 Nobel Prize, critics often wrote about Bob Dylan with a seriousness typically reserved for literary figures. In this critical analysis, Jones Hogsed continues the tradition, analyzing Dylan's vision of America alongside Walt Whitman's.

The Vintage Contemporaries imprint defined the voice of 1980s and 1990s American fiction

The carefully curated line of fiction featured some of the brightest stars in late-20th-century American literature, including Jay McInerney, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo, and featured eye-catching covers that looked like nothing else on bookshelves.

Why dystopian literature remains popular

Yale English professor Joe Cleary argues that dystopian literature’s continued relevance is due to a torrent of additional societal anxieties and that the streaming adaptations of dystopian classics "The Handmaid’s Tale" and "The Man in the High Castle" have expanded the genre’s popularity, introducing new audiences to its tropes.

Charles Dickens legally separated from his wife, then tried to have her committed to a mental asylum.