Last week's ambush and murder of a campus police officer at Virginia Tech naturally evokes memories of the horrific massacre at Virginia Tech four and a half years ago. Another shocking killing -- one that happened in 1840 -- sheds further light on how to understand campus shootings.

For several...

Lots and lots of healthy debate lately here and elsewhere about coverage of fiction, and ultimately the place of fiction in our culture.

The novel has always been a contradictory form. Here is a long form narrative mainly read originally by consumers who were...

The world around us has become more Dickensian lately. At least that's how it seems by the way the word circulates.

Put it into a Google news search, and you'll see a sampling. Here's what I got when I did:

Dickensian waif

Dickensian melodrama

Dickensian boarding school

2009 marks the bicentennial of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe. Instead of celebrating Poe, we often celebrate a caricature that has developed of him over time. Here are some of the most commonly repeated myths about Poe.

Myth #1. Poe was infatuated with young girls.

Poe did marry...