James Ellroy--whose haunting experiences, in particular the shocking murder of his mother, formed him as a child, shaped his young adult years, and led him later to combine lyricism and violence in his novels--might be called the James Joyce of...

TAKES FIVE JAMES ELLROY James Ellroy, 56, has made a career of shining a spotlight on the seamy underbelly of Los Angeles of the 1950s and '60s. The author of "L.A. Confidential," "The Black Dahlia" and "The Big Nowhere," Ellroy's stories are...

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Vanessa Redgrave is intense _ on stage, screen or living room sofa.It can be intimidating in an interview, but it's the quality Joan Didion sought for the starring role in the Broadway adaptation of "The Year of Magical Thinking," her best-selling memoir of the aftermath...

Like a verdant interval at Yaddo or a sepulchral black-and-white author photo by Marion Ettlinger, a snazzy book cover by Chip Kidd has distinct cachet in Manhattan literary circles (what’s left of them, anyway). The difference is that Mr. Kidd has managed to maintain an...