Critical Thinking

Beyond the Binary: The True Nature of Things

2025-08-04
Beyond either/or: a short argument against false dichotomies in literature and life—on essence, function, and how great works do both.
Book Recommendations

A Guided Reading Path for the Works of Leo Tolstoy

2025-05-04
Two reading paths for Tolstoy—chronological or straight to the masterpieces—with companion authors to deepen context and understanding.
Book Recommendations

A Guide to the Golden Age of Russian Literature

2025-04-28
Pushkin to Chekhov: how the “superfluous man” and realist masters define Russia’s golden age—and how to read the canon chronologically.
Book Recommendations

Reading Dostoevsky: From Essential Works to Key Critical Studies

2025-04-20
A structured path for reading Dostoevsky—from first entry points to three core masterpieces—plus essential criticism and theory for context.
Poetics

The Poetics of Form: Why Rhyme Matters and Why It Doesn't

2025-02-02
Why rhyme matters—and when it doesn’t: Milton, blank verse vs. the heroic couplet, and how language structure shapes poetic form.
Literary Criticism

The Indispensable Value of Reading Literary Classics in Full

2024-08-30
Why summaries can’t replace full texts: how detail, language, and realism build judgment—and what classics teach about society and human nature.
Literary Criticism

The Art of Scale and Dialogue in the Novel

2024-06-25
Length and “unnatural” dialogue are features, not bugs: why novels use scale and crafted speech to build a resonant parallel world.
Literary Criticism

The Two Meanings of "Classic": From Ancient Style to Modern Masterpieces

2024-02-08
Two senses of “classic”: the ancient Classical style vs. works of lasting value—Austen’s restraint and Dickens’s baroque energy as a case study.