Literature should be a transcription of life in all its forms, including the darker parts.  Lolita (Nabokov) and The Monk (Lewis) are masterpieces because they’re horrendous and lovely, appealing and tender at the same time, horror stories and love stories simultaneously. They plow the depths …

Nabokov thought fine literature should tickle your palate and tingle your nerves (paraphrasing a bit) but the concept is true. Fine literature should seep in through your skin, lodge in your every cell, and do unmentionable things to your limbic system. When I read Ulysses …

Old Man. Venice.