The chair of comparative literature at Harvard University, David Damrosch, takes us around the globe through books. Explore these far-flung literary destinations!
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
"Machado de Assis made his way, like some Yosemite free climber, up the cracks and fault lines of Brazilian society. He left us an incomparable map of a distinctly un-utopian Brazil in this melancholic comedy of his deceased yet immortal hero’s journey through life."
"Bashō is the most prominent Japanese poet in world literature. Starting in the late 19th century, readers around the world were struck by the contemplative beauty of his haiku, and Ezra Pound and the European Imagists were strongly influenced by his poems."
"Adichie’s stories probe the consequences of decisions made or not made, as women deal with disappointing marriages or a widower is comforted by his wife’s ghost at night. In their blend of revelation and restraint, Adichie’s stories reveal the moral and psychological depths of the most everyday events."
"This collection by the eminent Persianist Dick Davis offers sparkling translations of love poems by the great 14th-century poet Hafez and two of his contemporaries: Jahan Malek Khatun and Obayd-e Zakani."
"From young Marcel’s struggle to become a writer to Charles Swann’s tortured love affair with the faithless Odette, Swann’s Way creates a matchless portrayal, at once satiric, nostalgic, and profound, of Parisian life at the fin de siècle."
"Machado de Assis made his way, like some Yosemite free climber, up the cracks and fault lines of Brazilian society. He left us an incomparable map of a distinctly un-utopian Brazil in this melancholic comedy of his deceased yet immortal hero’s journey through life."
"Bashō is the most prominent Japanese poet in world literature. Starting in the late 19th century, readers around the world were struck by the contemplative beauty of his haiku, and Ezra Pound and the European Imagists were strongly influenced by his poems."
"Adichie’s stories probe the consequences of decisions made or not made, as women deal with disappointing marriages or a widower is comforted by his wife’s ghost at night. In their blend of revelation and restraint, Adichie’s stories reveal the moral and psychological depths of the most everyday events."
"This collection by the eminent Persianist Dick Davis offers sparkling translations of love poems by the great 14th-century poet Hafez and two of his contemporaries: Jahan Malek Khatun and Obayd-e Zakani."
"From young Marcel’s struggle to become a writer to Charles Swann’s tortured love affair with the faithless Odette, Swann’s Way creates a matchless portrayal, at once satiric, nostalgic, and profound, of Parisian life at the fin de siècle."
