‘Spirits dancing in private rapture’: the best descriptions of joy in literature
The last word, our series about emotions and states of mind in books, focuses on depictions of happiness this month, from Austen’s Persuasion to a 21st-century sonnet
Making your mind up: the best descriptions of indecision in literature
The last word, our series about emotions and states of mind in books, focuses on depictions of dithering this month, from Hamlet to the ‘maybe-boyfriend’ of Anna Burns’s Milkman
‘A painful absence all of the time’: the best descriptions of loneliness in literature
The last word, our series about emotions in books, focuses on depictions of isolation this month, from a memoir of grief to Sam Selvon’s Windrush chronicle
‘You don’t know what you might have set upon yourself’: the best descriptions of ambition in literature
The last word, our series about emotions in books, focuses on those who are determined to succeed this month, from Lady Macbeth to Flaubert’s privileged college boys
‘Pandora! I adore ya!’: the best descriptions of first love in literature
The last word, our series about emotions in books, looks at early flutters of the heart this month, from Adrian Mole and Malorie Blackman to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah
