w.w. norton

What’s Love Got To Do with It? Shakespeare’s ‘Venus & Adonis’

What’s Love Got To Do with It? Shakespeare’s ‘Venus & Adonis’

The worn trope—Time Devours All Things (tempus edax rerum)—is true for human beings, says Shakespeare: if you're a mortal, death lurks at the heart of the very thing you most want. During a plague, or a pandemic, it's wanting that endangers us.

Why Boccaccio’s ‘The Decameron’ Can Help Guide Us Through COVID-19

Why Boccaccio’s ‘The Decameron’ Can Help Guide Us Through COVID-19

Rather than write about death and the world unfolding in the throes of the Black Plague, Giovanni Boccaccio instead wrote about the utopian potential of storytelling.

Alea iacta est!: Plutarch and the Event of the Self

Alea iacta est!: Plutarch and the Event of the Self

For Plutarch, life and the course of history insist that we face up to who we are and this is as harrowing as it is liberating; it is the source of our destruction as much as it is the springboard for our accomplishments.

‘The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature’ Opens Doors Hitherto Closed to Us

‘The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature’ Opens Doors Hitherto Closed to Us

Yunte Huang grapples with some monumental subject matter, and the results are spellbinding.