The Best of the Literary Internet, Every Day

TODAY: In 1806, Elizabeth Barrett Browning is born.
- Who’s the baddest of the bad? Help us crown the Best Villain in Literature by voting for your favorite scoundrels and rogues in our Ides of March Madness bracket! | Lit Hub
- Ted Chiang revisits J.D. Beresford’s The Hampdenshire Wonder and examines one of literature’s earliest depictions of superintelligence. | Lit Hub Criticism
- The late Victoria Amelina recounts the start of war in Ukraine, from her unpublished book, Looking at Women Looking at War. | Lit Hub Memoir
- Spencer Reece considers the life and work of Jaime Gil de Biedma and resilience of art in the face of fascism. | Lit Hub Biography
- “This is one for the introverts—the wary and the peevish, the uncertain of their looks, taste, talent and class status.” 5 book reviews you need to read this week. | Book Marks
- “The deeper and darker it gets, the more solipsistic depression becomes, and the less people want to help you.” Greg Cwik on William Styron at 100. | Lit Hub Criticism
- Are you the asshole if you think these newfangled books have too many commas? Kristen Arnett answers this awkward question and more! | Lit Hub Craft
- Jeremy Gordon recommends novels that explore the (messy) complexities of friendship by Yukio Mishima, Elena Ferrante, Daniel Clowes, and more. | Lit Hub Reading Lists
- “If only I could find the frayed edge of my threadbare spirit. Then I could connect all the loose ends.” Sophie Strand reflects on creating personal narratives of illness and health. | Lit Hub Health
- “Remember when we thought Donny wut whole world?” Read from Colwill Brown’s novel, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh. | Lit Hub Fiction
- Alissa Wilkinson revisits Joan Didion’s The White Album and her account of the Manson murders. | The New York Times
- “The political situation today, I am sorry to say, is much worse than it was when the book was written.” Andrea Long Chu meditates on Females after six years. | n+1
- Elon Green investigates Toni Morrison’s lost play. | Vulture
- Here’s a terrifying primer on what Trump is trying to do to the Department of Education. | Vox
- How a translation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became a children’s literature hit in the USSR. | JSTOR Daily
- Austin English considers what Saul Steinberg’s art can mean to modern readers. | The Comics Journal
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