Provides in-depth analysis of the life, works, career, and critical importance of Plutarch.

This collection examines works that chronicle a life or are compiled from narrated memories. The entries focus on autobiographies, diaries, journals and oral histories from around the world and various time periods to bring us closer to the human experience of history. Some entries look at those who carry on the tradition of oral history, such the West African Griot, Scandinavian Skald, British and Gaelic bards, and Native American storytellers.

In this splendid and playful volume, acclaimed poetry anthologist Paul B. Janeczko and Caldecott Honor illustrator Chris Raschka present lively examples of twenty-nine poetic forms, demonstrating not only the (sometimes bendable) rules of poetry, but also the spirit that brings these forms so wonderfully to life. Featuring formal poems, some familiar and some never before published, from the likes of Eleanor Farjeon (aubade), X.J. Kennedy (elegy),...

Millions of Americans want to write about their lives. With this book as the road map for getting started and following through, writers and readers will gain a deeper understanding of their own minds, learn to connect with their senses in order to find the detail and truth that give their written words power and authenticity, and unfold the natural structure of the stories they carry within. Through timed, associative, and meditative exercises, writing...

Two excerpts from never-before-seen notebooks offer insights into the author's literary mind and process and includes notes on her Sacramento upbringing, her life in the Gulf states, her views on prominent locals and her experiences during a formative "Rolling Stone" assignment. "Joan Didion has always kept notebooks of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays, and copies of articles. "Notes on the South" traces a road trip...

The epic looms large as a storytelling genre in world mythology. Because of their customary length and level of detail, epics often provide a more comprehensive sense of the early cultures that spawned them than any other literary form. African mythology contains numerous captivating epics. Explore what is known of an ancient and powerful one: the Dausi.

In the 24 lectures of Rise of the Novel, take a journey from the birth of the novel to the height of the form in the mid-nineteenth century, and better understand what this literary form can tell about human nature and the unquenchable thirst for great stories. With Professor Emeritus Leo Damrosch of Harvard University as the guide, dive into some of the most notable works that helped create and shape the novel over the course of more than three centuries....

"Who doesn't love haiku? It is not only America's most popular cultural import from Japan but also our most popular poetic form: instantly recognizable, more mobile than a sonnet, and loved for its simplicity and compression, as well as for its ease of composition. Haiku is an ancient literary form seemingly made for the Twittersphere--Jack Kerouac and Langston Hughes wrote them, Ezra Pound and the Imagists were inspired by them, first-grade students...