Literary Criticism

An Odyssey

From award-winning memoirist and critic, and bestselling author of The Lost: a deeply moving tale of a father and son's transformative journey in reading--and reliving--Homer's epic masterpiece....

At the Strangers' Gate

From The New York Times best-selling author of Paris to the Moon and beloved New Yorker writer, a memoir that captures the romance of New York City in...

Willa Cather

Hermione Lee’s provocative and influential biography provides a sensitive reappraisal of a marvelous and often underrated writer. The Willa Cather she reveals here was a Nebraskan...

Selected Letters

A new and newly annotated selection of letters--the only selected edition available in hardcover--from the English eighteenth-century historian, novelist, and politician...

There's a Mystery There

An extraordinary, path-breaking, and penetrating book on the life and work and creative inspirations of the great children's book genius Maurice Sendak, who since his death in 2012 has only grown in his stature and recognition...

Jane Austen, the Secret Radical

A brilliant, illuminating reassessment of the life and work of Jane Austen that makes clear how Austen has been misread for the past two centuries and that shows us how she intended...

Somebody with a Little Hammer

From one of the most singular presences in American fiction comes a searingly intelligent book of essays on matters literary, social, cultural, and personal. Whether she’s...

The House of Memory

An engaging, funny, and tender memoir from a man of ninety years: of growing up poor in a Brooklyn and Ireland that now exist only in memory, and of serving in the China/Burma/India...

South and West

From the best-selling author of the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking: two extended excerpts from her never-before-seen notebooks--writings that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer. Joan Didion has always...

Other People

An intellectually thrilling and emotionally wrenching investigation of otherness: the need for one person to understand another person completely, the impossibility of any...

Ten Windows

A dazzling collection of essays on how the best poems work, from the master poet and popular essayist"Poetry," Jane Hirshfield has said, "is language that foments...

Books for Living

From the author of the beloved New York Times best-selling The End of Your Life Book Club, an inspiring and magical exploration of the power of books to shape our lives...

The Spectacle of Skill

Over the course of his distinguished career, Robert Hughes wrote with brutal honesty about art, architecture, culture, religion—and himself. The Spectacle of...

The Clothing of Books

How do you clothe a book? In this deeply personal reflection, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jhumpa Lahiri explores the art of the book jacket from the...

Collected Nonfiction, Volume 1

The first of two hardcover volumes collecting the major nonfiction by the "father of American literature": more than 150 letters, essays, and speeches selected to showcase...

My Lost Poets

Essays, speeches, and journal entries from one of our most admired and best-loved poets that illuminate how he came to understand himself as a poet, the events and people...

A Lowcountry Heart

Final words and heartfelt remembrances from bestselling author Pat Conroy take center stage in this winning nonfiction collection, supplemented by touching pieces from Conroy’s many friends. This new volume of Pat Conroy’s nonfiction brings together some of the most charming interviews, magazine articles, speeches, and...