The invention of close reading. By transforming quotations into evidence, close reading served as way to turn postwar criticism into a specialized knowledge. But what if we treated it more as an art ...

You’re reading Open Questions, Joshua Rothman’s weekly column exploring what it means to be human. What do you read, and why? A few decades ago, these weren’t urgent questions. Reading was an ...

Corrected: This story has been updated to note that the cancellation of contracts to develop U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse practice guides affected at least two guides that ...

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, “The Vicomtesse de Vaudreuil” (1785) Oil on panel; 83.2 x 64.8 cm (32 3/4 x 25 1/2 in.) Johannes Vermeer had a serious thing for books. As it turns out, so did Edward ...