Art

From Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita to Raven Leilani's Luster, the texts in this collection investigate themes related to the power and promise of many types of art — from the written word to visual arts such as painting and cinema.

M Train

by Patti Smith

Publication year 2015

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Grief, Loneliness, Death, Community, Art

Tags Music, Arts & Culture, Grief & Death, Travel Literature

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My Favorite Thing Is Monsters

by Emil Ferris

Publication year 2017

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Death, Coming of Age, Social Class, Sexual Identity, Community, Friendship, Safety & Danger, Siblings, Family, Art, Childhood & Youth, Daughters & Sons, Mothers, Race, Fear, Conflict, Beauty, Shame & Pride, Appearance & Reality, Loneliness, Grief, Fathers

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ+, Arts & Culture

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My Name is Red

by Orhan Pamuk

Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Art, Guilt, Love, Shame & Pride, Gender Identity, Future, The Past, Appearance & Reality, Teamwork, Globalization, Beauty, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Historical Fiction, Middle Eastern Literature, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Asian Literature, World History, Arts & Culture

My Name is Red (originally titled Benim Adim Kirmizi) is a 1998 historical novel by the Nobel Prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. Set in late-16th century Istanbul, the novel explores cultural tensions stemming from contemporary philosophical understandings of visual art. Told from the viewpoints of many different animate and inanimate characters—including Muslim and Jewish individuals, a corpse, the color red, and paintings of a horse, a devil, and a dog—the novel integrates elements of... Read My Name is Red Summary

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

by Edith Hamilton

Publication year 1942

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Literature, Justice, Art

Tags Mythology, Classical Period, Education, Education, World History, Fantasy, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality

Originally published in 1942, Mythology is primarily a compendium of Greek and Roman myths, with a brief final section on Norse mythology, written by American educator and classicist Edith Hamilton. Hamilton engages with the myths as both a storyteller and a literary critic. She organizes and retells the myths narrated in ancient sources, and she assesses those ancient sources as works of literature. Her approach is grounded in the assumptions that Greek and Roman civilizations... Read Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes Summary

Noises Off

by Michael Frayn

Publication year 1982

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Teamwork, Art, Order & Chaos

Tags Drama, Comedy & Satire

Noises Off by Michael Frayn was originally performed and published in 1982. It ran in English theaters until 1987, was revived in 2000, and began running in the United States in 2001. Frayn’s career as a professional playwright began in 1970, and Noises Off brought him significant critical and commercial success. It was followed many other successful plays, including the Tony-award-winning Copenhagen (1998). Noises Off won the London Evening Standard Award and the Laurence Olivier... Read Noises Off Summary

Nora Webster

by Colm Tóibín

Publication year 2014

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Grief, Loneliness, Memory, Shame & Pride, Death, Family, Social Class, Politics & Government, Art, Music

Tags Historical Fiction, Irish Literature, Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction, Depression & Suicide

Written by Colm Tóibín, Nora Webster (2014) is a historical novel that follows the titular character, a young woman who is struggling to raise her four young children, process her grief, and reinvent her life after her husband passes away. In 2015, the novel won the Hawthornden Prize, and it has also received numerous other prestigious award nominations. Throughout his career, Colm Tóibín has alternated between fiction and non-fiction, producing works such as Brooklyn (2009), which... Read Nora Webster Summary

Of Human Bondage

by W. Somerset Maugham

Publication year 1915

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Art, Beauty, Loneliness, Social Class, Education

Tags Classic Fiction, Life-Inspired Fiction, Coming of Age, British Literature, World History, Historical Fiction, Romance

Of Human Bondage is a 1915 novel written by the British author W. Somerset Maugham. The novel follows the maturation of a young man named Philip Carey as he grows up in England at the very end of the 19th century. The novel incorporates elements of both realism and modernism and has been interpreted as having some autobiographical inspiration drawn from Maugham’s own life. By describing events from Philip’s life, Maugham develops themes related to... Read Of Human Bondage Summary

Oil and Marble

by Stephanie Storey

Publication year 2016

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Art, Conflict, Fear, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Joy, Love, Memory, Sexual Identity, Death, Appearance & Reality, Place, Family, Fathers, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Politics & Government, War, Beauty, Fate, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Science & Technology

Tags Life-Inspired Fiction, Historical Fiction, Arts & Culture, Renaissance

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On Beauty

by Zadie Smith

Publication year 2005

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Beauty, Family, Marriage, Aging, Religion & Spirituality, Race, Loyalty & Betrayal, Mothers, Social Class, Community, Daughters & Sons, Fathers, Siblings, Midlife, Trust & Doubt, Friendship, Loneliness, Childhood & Youth, Forgiveness, Art, Apathy, Guilt, Equality, Hate & Anger, Coming of Age, Masculinity, Conflict, Education, Femininity, Self Discovery, Truth & Lies, Shame & Pride, Appearance & Reality, Death, Grief, Gender Identity, Hope

Tags British Literature, Race & Racism, Modern Classic Fiction

On Beauty by the celebrated British author Zadie Smith was published in 2005. On Beauty was shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. Smith is known for writing novels and essays that analyze the intersections of identity in the contemporary world with nuance, clarity, and empathy. She is also known to be influenced by the classic English author E.M. Forster. On Beauty is loosely based on Forster’s masterpiece... Read On Beauty Summary

One-Dimensional Man

by Herbert Marcuse

Publication year 1964

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics, Politics & Government, Art, Power & Greed, Science & Technology, Community

Tags Philosophy, Politics & Government, Psychology, Education, Education, Business & Economics, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Philosophy

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