The Red Thread

In Greek mythology, Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of red thread to guide him through the labyrinth, and the Red Thread offers a path through and a way to explore the ins and outs and twists and turns of the celebrated NYRB Classics series, now twenty years old. The NYRB Classics series is known for translating great books from throughout the ages and all over the world; for rediscovering neglected geniuses such as Eve Babitz, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and John Williams; and for its wide-ranging eclecticism. The series ranges across time and space and through multiple literary genres, from the novel and the short story to memoirs, diaries, essays personal and impersonal, works of history, philosophy, and criticism, poems and polemics and how-to books. This selection of stories, chapters, essays, poems, reflections, remembrances and sundry other literary illuminations has been made by the founder and editor of the series, Edwin Frank, to suggest something of its unique range and encapsulate the idea that writing that is truly alive may turn up anywhere.