This season’s essays take a turn toward joy, laughter, and survival. In addition to collections from notable names, be on the lookout for a feminist biography of the Wife of Bath from Chaucer’s The ...

Of the character sketches that the English satirist Samuel Butler wrote in the mid-seventeenth century—among them “A Degenerate Noble,” “A Huffing Courtier,” “A Small Poet,” and “A Romance Writer”—the ...

Fittingly for uncertain times, this fall authors emphasize the value of returning to old literary favorites. The season won’t be strictly nostalgic, however, and will see its fair share of debuts and ...