Since the end of the first century A.D., people have been playing a game with a certain book. In this game, you open the book to a random spot and place your finger on the text; the passage you select ...

A Brookline resident, Ferry has taught in BU’s creative-writing program and at Suffolk, and is the Sophie Chantal Hart professor emeritus at Wellesley College, where he taught from 1952 to 1989. In ...