At one time in Europe, there was a point to pain: physical suffering could be a path to redemption. This religious notion suggested that truth was lodged in the

How does literature evoke reality? This book takes cues from the history of scientific observation to provide a new approach to this longstanding question of li

French playwright, novelist, activist, and journalist Louis Sébastien Mercier (1740–1814) passionately captured scenes of social injustice in pre-Revolutiona