THE BEST OF THE LITERARY INTERNET

TODAY: In 1945, French novelist Colette is the first woman admitted to the Académie Goncourt.

Omer Aziz examines parallel spectacles of fascism in Nazi Germany and present-day America. | Lit Hub History

On Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, and the American prose and poetry renaissance of the 1850s. | Lit Hub Criticism

Why was Honoré de Balzac absolutely terrified of having his photograph taken? | Lit Hub Photography

“When I meet new people, when they discover I wrote a book, when they ask what it’s about, I don’t know how to tell them.” Madeline Vosch on writing a memoir about suicide . | Lit Hub Memoir

“Art and life are distinct elements, and only great pressure can transmute the one into the other.” Adrian Nathan West on Ben Lerner . | The Baffler

Scott Carlson considers the emphasis on efficiency, at the expense of curiosity, in higher education . | The Chronicle of Higher Education

Does reading make us better people? Yes, but maybe not how you expect.…