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Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most prolific if not best American writers of the second half of the twentieth century, first earned a reputation for himself as a science-fictionist with his early works, The Sirens of Titan and Cat's Cradle. This reputation, however much it vastly underestimates and misunderstands Vonnegut's work and its significance to the modern era, has been difficult for Vonnegut to escape. It does, however, provide insight into the aspects of the modern situation that Vonnegut sees as central and meaningful. Bluebeard, which trades a more traditionally Vonnegut mad scientist for a retired, eccentric expressionist painter, the same painter from Breakfast of Champions, tackles the issues which have traditionally blurred Vonnegut's role in the literary and popular fiction traditions. This article explores these issues within Vonnegut's version of the fairytale, Bluebeard.

This article discusses the young British novelist Zadie Smith's second novel, The Autograph Man. It examines the novel for how it deals with the themes of celebrity and obsessions within modern culture. This article also helps to establish a literary precedent for her works as those worthy of critical discussion.

The reputation of Hamlet as one of Shakespeare's greatest plays often times overlooks one of the greatest achievements of the play. While many scholars acknowledge the play as the birth of the modern man, few seem to place as much significance on the language of the play as they do elements such as theme and character. This appears to be oversight, given the fact that the play is one of the single greatest examples of creative use of language in not only Shakespeare's works, but perhaps all works in the English language. This article examines Hamlet from a linguistic perspective to enhance our appreciation of Shakespeare's genius.

This article examines the implications of Cartesian Dualism on Immanuel Kant, David Hume, and their influential works, including Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The article examines Hume's enquiry, it's take on the "gap" in Ontology, and Immanuel Kant's revolutionary take on Hume's philosophy that resulted in a shift in modern philosophy. This article contains pictures, links to similar articles, copies of books and ebooks, and even ebook readers.

Any attempt to say something meaningful about the literature of William Faulkner must acknowledge the overwhelming task of saying anything at all about his literature. This truth makes itself most apparent in an attempt to write about Absalom, Absalom! In this article, which examines Absalom, Absalom!, the character of Thomas Sutpen is examined through the lens Joseph Campbell's Hero Archetype and is revealed to be the specific American version of the hero: the anti-hero.

This article explores Nick Hornby's brilliant short story, "Nipple Jesus". In it, Hornby tackles religion, politics, sex, family and financial responsibility, art and its relationship with the individual, the artist, and society through a "six foot two and fifteen stone" security guard whose only skill is being big, to profound and entertaining\neffect.