Julia Keller

In the upper right-hand corner of certain pages in my copy of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground" (1864), you will find dime-size stains of a curious orange-yellow hue. The provenance...

You say "Jerry Springer," and I say: Airports. It's simple, really. When you're feeling fat and ugly -- and who doesn't, from time to time, feel that way? -- a...

"Kafka on the Shore" has almost nothing to do with famed author Franz Kafka (1883-1924). That does not mean, however, that we all couldn't benefit from brushing up on the...

She's hunted moose at midnight without batting an eyelash, but Sarah Palin now finds herself up against the biggest beast of all: cultural expectations for women. The Alaska governor and...

Do you have a question about literature or culture? Send your query to Tribune critic Julia Keller ([email protected]), who will respond in an upcoming "Ask the Critic" column, with your...

It's not like I didn't try. I did try. I really did. You must believe me. In fact, I tried repeatedly. But every time I picked up a copy of...

For 34 years, it did its job quietly and well, without fanfare or melodrama. The Ontario Review, the small but potent literary magazine created by the late Raymond Smith and...

He was, as The Independent of London put it, "the dying man who taught America how to live." Randy Pausch, 47, died Friday, but not before his words, his wisdom...

The sky, fittingly, was blue and gray. Muted versions of both colors met and rested in the infrequent clouds, giving the day, despite its abundant sunshine, a sense of mission...

Just enjoying Alan Furst's succinct, elegant thrillers set in and around World War II's European theater wasn't enough for me; I was determined to figure out how and why they...