(Question after the background) A woman passes as a man in order to study when women aren't supposed to. She falls in love with another student. Reveals to him she is female and he also loves her. But they don't end up married. In Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai （梁山伯和祝英台）, both die (Romeo & Juliet?)...

In Hamlet Act III Scene IV, Hamlet says to the Ghost, Do not look upon me, lest with this piteous action you convert my stern effects. Then what I have to do will want true color; tears perchance for blood. This is cryptic. I think Hamlet firstly means "don't look at me unless you convert my in...

I am translating its Chinese simplified version, got confused about the following sentences. Hopefully anyone can help clarify their definitions and meanings. those knots were looser than your Amma's redda. 'Redda' refers to? this is why, Kottu Aiya, you and me need to put a swim. 'Kottu Aiya' A...

In part 2 chapter 12 of Lolita, Humbert buys her a book about "modern American painting" and attempts to discuss some of the artists with her. The conversation is not a success but I found it noteworthy that Nabokov name-drops four particular painters: she wanted to know if the guy noon-napping ...

The title should be fairly clear. I asked a question connected with the history and/or appreciation of art and it struck me that this was a topic that overlaps literature with a reasonable frequency - look at the connections between William Carlos Willams and artists like Man Ray, Charles Demuth ...

I am trying to identify several books (I believe it was a series) about the day-to-day lives of two families. I read these books as an elementary school student in the early 2000s. As I recall, the two families each had three (it may have been two?) children. One family had only sons, and the oth...

I'm trying to find a story that I heard about 20 years ago. It involves a man who is at sea and crosses paths with a well-stocked boat, so he kills the captain and claims it for himself. Although there is plenty of food on board, he can't seem to find any drinkable water. Desperate, he eventually...