From Esquire, Chuck Klosterman issues his predictions for the coming century, featuring robot wars, near annihilation, and President Tom Brady. Is US literature too insular and media-crazed to merit notice by the Swedish Academy? The editor of TLS on why the Nobel selection was merely a minor insult to the Americans, after all. Will Le Clezio's Nobel prize cut America down to size? The Nobel prize for literature doesn't really have much to do with literary excellence — and that's not a bad thing. From Salvo, an article on The Death of Theory: The humanities have been in thrall to postmodern theory; now its empire seems to be breaking up. Ruth Wisse on the enduring power of literature: A cautionary tale about "change". From VQR, more on How Fiction Works by James Wood. History vs. Nature: For Yeats, the natural world is the symbol of his times. A look at why Dickens is so relevant today. An article on Emily Dickinson's secret lover: Why the big news is being ignored. Is it wrong to judge a book by its cover if it means more people might read it? Leon Wieseltier on why books matter: Defending Lionel Trilling from the vile attacks of The New Yorker. A review of Literary Essays and Reviews of the 1920s & 30s and Literary Essays and Reviews of the 1930s & 40s by Edmund Wilson. A review of Aesthetics and Literature by David Davies.