PITTSFIELD — Where does the line that separates utter genius and epic failure lie? Herman Melville spent most of his life straddling that line, existing in the liminal space between genius and failure ...

Not until the early 20th century was Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick first recognized as a literary masterpiece and touted as a cornerstone of modern American literature. Etching of Joseph O.

The Berkshire County Historical Society (BCHS) welcomes author Kevin O'Hara to Herman Melville's historic home on Sunday, Dec ...

In his novel “The Last Station,” Jay Parini adroitly shifted perspectives to tell the story of Leo Tolstoy’s late years. Tolstoy was a celebrity, almost a saint, and so multifaceted that no one point ...

In Pittsfield, Herman Melville sat, in his second-floor study, gazing north out of the window at the mountain range rambling and rising along the horizon. It was in that room, at Arrowhead, he gazed ...

The last book to leave Herman Melville’s desk was a volume of poetry titled “Timoleon Etc.,” which was privately printed in an edition of 25 copies. When he died a few months later, in September 1891, ...

Writing in The Atlantic last year, presumably while finishing work on “The Passages of H. M.,” a novel based on the life of Herman Melville, Jay Parini declared that the historical novel “has become ...

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” Pithy sayings like this one from Robert F. Kennedy celebrate the idea of failure. But Austin playwright Elizabeth Doss believes some of ...

A new history by Roland Allen uncovers the wealth of ideas and invention hidden in the notebooks of literary luminaries. By Wilson Wong Lima is a city of contrasts and contradictions — gray and ...