The Rise of CliffsNotes Cinema
Oversimplified literary remakes miss the point of the works they are adapting.
Culture
Why Justin Bieber Played YouTube Onstage for Thousands of People
The pop star transformed the normal act of browsing your laptop into something interesting—and unsettling.
The New Age of Performance Anxiety
With the rise of screen culture, all the world has stage fright.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
The Hardest Question for a Writer to Answer
For Miriam Toews, writing is a way of living with the unspeakable.
Dear James: I’ve Got a Bad Case of Unrequited Love
I’m 19, and I’ve fallen deeply for a colleague. But he’ll never feel the same.
June
A short story
If the University of Chicago Won’t Defend the Humanities, Who Will?
Why it matters that the University of Chicago is pausing admissions to doctoral programs in literature, the arts, and languages
Irresistible Contentment
A poem
Bobby Hill’s Very Millennial Sorta-Adulthood
The sensitive tween of King of the Hill has now grown up—and captures the anxieties of a generation.
What We Gain When We Stop Caring
A series of viral videos has doubled as an ode to fed-up women and a repudiation of male expectations.
What Claire’s Once Gave Tween Girls
The struggling chain is still alive, but its version of childhood might not be.
A Tale of Sex and Intrigue in Imperial Kyoto
A thousand years ago, Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, the world’s first novel. Who was she?
Dear James: Do I Need to Be Nice to My Aging Stepfather?
He was pretty mean to me in his heyday—but now I’m feeling guilty for ignoring him.