10,807 articles
Points and Lines (点と線)
Points and Lines (点と線, Ten to sen; also translated as Tokyo Express) is Seichō Matsumoto's 1958 debut mystery novel, the founding work of Japan's social-school mystery fiction, famous for its train-timetable alibi trick and the Tokyo Station four-minute gap.
Points of Departure
Points of Departure is a 1981 bilingual Hebrew-English anthology of poems by the Israeli poet Dan Pagis, translated by Stephen Mitchell and published in Philadelphia.
Poirot Investigates
Poirot Investigates is Agatha Christie's first Hercule Poirot short story collection, published by The Bodley Head in March 1924 with 11 stories narrated by Captain Hastings; the 1925 US edition added three stories.
Poirot's Early Cases
Poirot's Early Cases (Hercule Poirot's Early Cases in the US) is Agatha Christie's 1974 Collins Crime Club collection of eighteen Poirot short stories from 1923-1935, mostly narrated by Captain Hastings, including Poirot's greatest failure, The Chocolate Box.
Poldark
Poldark: Winston Graham's twelve-novel Cornish historical saga (1945–2002), set 1783–1820, following Ross and Demelza Poldark against George Warleggan; basis of the BBC series of 1975, 1977, and 2015–2019.
Polemic
Polemic: a forceful speech or written attack on or defense of an opinion, from Greek polemikos (war). Also the practice of strong argument; distinct from satire and balanced argumentation.
Polish School of Reportage
The Polish School of Reportage (polska szkoła reportażu) is a tradition of literary journalism in Poland in which writers report real events with the craft of literature.
Political fiction
Political fiction, also called the political novel, is fiction that offers insight into political systems, events, theories, and figures, spanning war, revolution, dystopia, and political thrillers.
Political geography of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Political geography of Nineteen Eighty-Four: Orwell's fictional division of the world into the warring superstates Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia plus a disputed equatorial battlefield, inspired by the 1943 Tehran and 1945 Potsdam spheres-of-influence agreements.
Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Littlefield's 1964 Populist parable thesis, Rockoff's free-silver monetary allegory, feminist and theosophical readings, and the contested question of Baum's intent.
Political satire
Political satire: genre using humor, irony, and exaggeration to critique political power. Also called parodic political humor; forms range from Roman verse satire to The Daily Show, Charlie Hebdo cartoons, and censored Chinese social-media satire.
Pollyanna
Pollyanna is Eleanor H. Porter's 1913 children's novel about orphan Pollyanna Whittier and her Glad Game, serialized in The Christian Herald, a million-copy bestseller that made "Pollyanna" a word for blind optimism and spawned sequels, Glad clubs, and film adaptations.
Polo (novel)
Polo is a 1991 novel by Jilly Cooper, the third book in the Rutshire Chronicles. It follows polo star Ricky France-Lynch and Perdita MacLeod across England and Argentina.
Polostan
Polostan is a 2024 historical novel by Neal Stephenson, first of the Bomb Light series, following Dawn Rae Bjornberg/Aurora between the US and the USSR and ending as the OGPU makes her a spy.
Polyeucte
Polyeucte (full title Polyeucte martyr) is a five-act Christian tragedy in verse by Pierre Corneille, premiered in Paris around 1643, dramatizing the conversion and martyrdom of an Armenian nobleman under the emperor Decius.
Polynesian Mythology
Polynesian Mythology is an 1855 collection of Māori myths and legends compiled by Sir George Grey, colonial governor of New Zealand, translating 23 of 31 legends from his 1854 Māori edition.
Polyphonic novel
The polyphonic novel (полифонический роман) is a concept coined by Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin in his 1929 study of Dostoevsky, describing a novel of independent, unmerged voices none subordinated to the author.
Pompeii (novel)
Pompeii is a 2003 historical fiction novel by Robert Harris. It is set in 79 AD, following a Roman engineer's quest to fix a failing aqueduct.
Pon Vilangu
Pon Vilangu (பொன் விலங்கு, "Golden Fetter") is a Tamil social novel by Na. Parthasarathy that follows Sathyamoorthy, an idealistic young teacher, first serialized in Kalki.
Ponniyin Selvan (பொன்னியின் செல்வன்)
Ponniyin Selvan (பொன்னியின் செல்வன்) is a Tamil historical novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy, set around 1000 CE in the Chola empire, which tells the story of Arulmozhi Varman becoming king.
Ponyboy Curtis
Ponyboy Curtis, the fourteen-year-old narrator and protagonist of S. E. Hinton's 1967 novel The Outsiders, is a sensitive, bookish Tulsa greaser whose English-class essay frames the whole story of greasers versus Socs.
Poor Folk
Poor Folk (Bednyye lyudi), sometimes translated Poor People, is the first novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, an epistolary novel telling the story of two poor Petersburgers through their letters, published in 1846 to instant acclaim.
Poor Liza
Poor Liza (Бедная Лиза) is a 1792 sentimental tale by Nikolai Karamzin about a peasant girl seduced and abandoned by a young nobleman, considered the first Russian best-seller.
Poor Things
Poor Things: Alasdair Gray's 1992 postmodern Frankenstein retelling, Whitbread and Guardian Fiction Prize winner about Bella Baxter, reanimated by surgeon Godwin Baxter in Victorian Glasgow; adapted into Yorgos Lanthimos's 2023 Oscar-winning film with Emma Stone.
Poos ki Raat
Poos ki Raat (पूस की रात) is a 1930 Hindi short story by Munshi Premchand about an indebted peasant farmer guarding his crop on a freezing winter night.
Pop Ćira and Pop Spira
Pop Ćira and Pop Spira is an 1894 humorous novel by the Serbian writer Stevan Sremac about the rivalry of two Orthodox priests' families in Vojvodina.
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man, created by E.C. Segar, debuted in the Thimble Theatre comic strip on January 17, 1929; a spinach-powered sailor who starred in Fleischer cartoons from 1933 and entered US public domain in 2025.
Poppy and Memory
Poppy and Memory (Mohn und Gedächtnis) is a 1952 poetry collection by Paul Celan, containing "Todesfuge" and "Corona", which brought him his first wide recognition.
Populist novel
The populist novel (roman populiste) was a French literary movement founded in 1929 by Léon Lemonnier and André Thérive that portrayed the lives of ordinary people without picturesque embellishment.
Porphyria's Lover
"Porphyria's Lover" is a dramatic monologue by the English poet Robert Browning, first published in 1836, in which an unnamed speaker strangles his lover Porphyria with her own hair.