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Open Letters Review

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Open Letters Review

Open Letters Review

An Arts & Literature Review

Open Letters Review

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May 02, 2025

Dickens the Enchanter by Peter Conrad

May 02, 2025/ Steve Donoghue
Dickens the Enchanter by Peter Conrad

A worshipful new account of the genius of Charles Dickens

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May 02, 2025/ Steve Donoghue/
Dickens the Enchanter, Peter Conrad, Charles Dickens, literary criticism, literary biography
January 23, 2025

Bright Circle by Randall Fuller

January 23, 2025/ Hannah Joyner
Bright Circle by Randall Fuller

How women experienced—and shaped—Transcendentalist thought in 19th-century New England.

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January 23, 2025/ Hannah Joyner/
Bright Circle, Randall Fuller, Trancendatlism, Mary Moody Emerson, Emerson, Thoreau, biography, literary biography
October 31, 2024

The Brothers Grimm by Ann Schmiesing

October 31, 2024/ Siddharth Handa
The Brothers Grimm by Ann Schmiesing

A new life of the famous storytellers

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October 31, 2024/ Siddharth Handa/
Ann Schmiesing, Brothers Grimm, biography, literary biography
August 24, 2024

Christopher Isherwood: Inside Out by Katherine Bucknell

August 24, 2024/ Steve Donoghue
Christopher Isherwood: Inside Out by Katherine Bucknell

A big new biography of Christopher Isherwood

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August 24, 2024/ Steve Donoghue/
Christopher Isherwood, Inside Out, Katherine Bucknell, biography, literary biography
August 15, 2024

Hardy Women by Paula Byrne

August 15, 2024/ Aaron Kyereh-Mireku
Hardy Women by Paula Byrne

A look at the women (real and imaginary) in the life of author Thomas Hardy

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August 15, 2024/ Aaron Kyereh-Mireku/
Hardy Women, Paula Byrne, biography, literary biography, Thomas Hardy
March 07, 2024

Carson McCullers: A Life by Mary V. Dearborn

March 07, 2024/ Hannah Joyner
Carson McCullers: A Life by Mary V. Dearborn

Using newly available sources, Mary V. Dearborn explores the complicated life of a brilliant writer of Southern Gothic fiction.

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March 07, 2024/ Hannah Joyner/
Carson McCullers, Mary Dearborn, biography, literary biography, Hannah Joyner
January 13, 2024

Pure Wit by Francesca Peacock

January 13, 2024/ Steve Donoghue
Pure Wit by Francesca Peacock

A new biography of the boisterous Margaret Cavendish

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January 13, 2024/ Steve Donoghue/
Francesca Peacock, Pure Wit, Margaret Cavendish, biography, Restoration, literary biography
August 16, 2023

The Marriage Question by Clare Carlisle

August 16, 2023/ Hannah Joyner
The Marriage Question by Clare Carlisle

A philosopher considers how George Eliot wrote about—and experienced—marriage.

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August 16, 2023/ Hannah Joyner/
Biography/Memoir, Literary Criticism
The Marriage Question, Clare Carlisle, George Eliot, Biography, literary biography, Hannah Joyner, 2023
August 12, 2023

The Novel, Who Needs It? by Joseph Epstein

August 12, 2023/ Steve Donoghue
The Novel, Who Needs It? by Joseph Epstein

The latest from legendary critic and editor Joseph Epstein.

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August 12, 2023/ Steve Donoghue/
Literary Criticism
The Novel Who Needs It?, Joseph Epstein, literary criticism, literary biography, Steve Donoghue, 2023
June 14, 2023

Orwell: The New Life by DJ Taylor

June 14, 2023/ Steve Donoghue
Orwell: The New Life by DJ Taylor

DJ Taylor’s new elaboration on his much-praised life of George Orwell.

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June 14, 2023/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir
Orwell: The New Life, George Orwell, DJ Taylor, biography, literary biography, Steve Donoghue, 2023
February 06, 2023

Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by Max Allan Collins & James L. Traylor

February 06, 2023/ Kevin Canfield
Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by Max Allan Collins & James L. Traylor

A new biography of the crime novelist Mickey Spillane.

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February 06, 2023/ Kevin Canfield/
Biography/Memoir, Books & Authors
Max Allan Collins, James L. Traylor, Mickey Spillane, Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction, biography, literary biography, Kevin Canfield, 2023
November 24, 2022

Lydia Maria Child by Lydia Moland

November 24, 2022/ Steve Donoghue
Lydia Maria Child by Lydia Moland

A big, generous new biography of abolitionist Lydia Maria Child.

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November 24, 2022/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir
Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life, Lydia Moland, biography, American biography, Boston history, abolition, literary biography, Steve Donoghue
September 04, 2022

Eliot After "The Waste Land" by Robert Crawford

September 04, 2022/ Steve Donoghue
Eliot After "The Waste Land" by Robert Crawford

The concluding volume of a great two-volume biography of TS Eliot.

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September 04, 2022/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, Poetry
Eliot after the Waste Land, TS Eliot, Robert Crawford, biography, poets, literary biography, Steve Donoghue
July 06, 2022

I Used To Live Here Once by Miranda Seymour

July 06, 2022/ Steve Donoghue
I Used To Live Here Once by Miranda Seymour

A new biography of the author of “The Wide Sargasso Sea.”

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July 06, 2022/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir
I Used To Live Here Once: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys, Miranda Seymour, Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, biography, literary biography, Steve Donoghue
June 18, 2022

The Life of Mark Twain: The Final Years by Gary Scharnhorst

June 18, 2022/ Steve Donoghue
The Life of Mark Twain: The Final Years by Gary Scharnhorst

A foremost Mark Twain scholar completes his three-volume biography of the author.

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June 18, 2022/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir
Gary Scharnhorst, The Life of Mark Twain: The Final Years, Mark Twain, biography, American biography, literary biography, Steve Donoghue
March 05, 2022

The Turning Point by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

March 05, 2022/ Steve Donoghue
The Turning Point by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

A new book cites 1851 as a key year in the career of Charles Dickens.

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March 05, 2022/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, Books & Authors, Literary Criticism
The Turning Point, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Charles Dickens, biography, literary biography, literary criticism
September 02, 2021

Bright Star, Green Light by Jonathan Bate

September 02, 2021/ Steve Donoghue
Bright Star, Green Light by Jonathan Bate

The parallel lives of John Keats and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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September 02, 2021/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, Books & Authors
Bright Star, Green Light, John Keats, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jonathan Bate, Biography, literary biography, Steve Donoghue
August 26, 2021

Pessoa by Richard Zenith

August 26, 2021/ Steve Donoghue
Pessoa by Richard Zenith

Richard Zenith writes the definitive biography of the “ever-elusive” Fernando Pessoa.

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August 26, 2021/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir
Pessoa, Fernando Pessoa, Richard Zenith, biography, literary biography, Steve Donoghue
February 07, 2021

Devils, Lust and Strange Desires by Richard Bradford

February 07, 2021/ Steve Donoghue
Devils, Lust and Strange Desires by Richard Bradford

A new biography of the author of “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

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February 07, 2021/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, Books & Authors
Devils, Devils Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith, Richard Bradford, Patricia Highsmith, biography, literary biography, Steve Donoghue
May 02, 2020

Radical Wordsworth by Jonathan Bate

May 02, 2020/ Steve Donoghue
Radical Wordsworth by Jonathan Bate

Jonathan Bate writes about the young firebrand William Wordsworth.

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May 02, 2020/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, Poetry
Jonathan Bate, biography, literary biography, William Wordsworth, Steve Donoghue
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Editors:

Steve Donoghue
Sam Sacks
Britta Böhler
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Olive Fellows
Jack Hanson
Jennifer Helinek
Justin Hickey
Hannah Joyner
Zach Rabiroff
Jessica Tvordi

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