Bye Bye, Beetle

Kafka’s meditation on the limits of empathy.

A Crisis of Conscience

On The Brothers Karamazov and the many forms of guilt.

Knowing When to Hold ‘Em

The Catcher in the Rye is a postlapsarian search for connection.

Legends of the Fall (and Winter)

Independent People’s grimly comic look at Iceland’s antiheroes.

Movin’ On Down

The drama of social striving (and sinking) in Anna Karenina.

De Dos Mundos

Reflections of a divided self in Bless Me, Ultima.

Parlor Tricks

The game of marriage in Pride and Prejudice.

Not an Exit

The futility of escape in The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe.