Articles on literary fiction

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February 6, 2017

Fiction by Northern Irish women is booming – leading the way against misogyny

Caroline Magennis, University of Salford

If all you know of Northern Ireland is the turmoil of political institutions, you could do worse than to pick up some of the recent flux in women's fiction.

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who died in 2013, wrote stories that offer students from all disciplines valuable insights about the world they want to fix one day. EPA/Frank May

January 26, 2016

How reading fiction can help students understand the real world

Melissa Tandiwe Myambo, University of California, Los Angeles

Students of the social and political sciences can benefit enormously from being taught literature, short stories and watching artistic feature films.

What does economics have to do with a revolver? Book revolver via www.shutterstock.com

October 5, 2015

From Sophocles to Sherlock: economics, literature and the detective story

Frank Edmund Smith, Harper College

Works of fiction are brimming with economic principles, but perhaps none more so than the detective story.

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is hailed as one of the greatest novels ever set in Africa. Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters

July 24, 2015

What a less Eurocentric reading list would look like

Nomalanga Mkhize, Rhodes University; Sarah Pett, SOAS, University of London, and Xolela Mangcu, University of Cape Town

There's a fierce debate underway about changing university curricula in Africa and the UK to be less Eurocentric. Three academics offer their suggestions for a decolonised reading list.

October 4, 2013

Reading literary fiction makes for a better society

The New School for Social Research

Readers of literary fiction are better placed to comprehend the complexity of social relationships and understand the mental…

Top contributors

Caroline Magennis
Lecturer in 20th and 21st Century Literature, University of Salford
Sarah Pett
Lecturer in English, SOAS, SOAS, University of London
Nomalanga Mkhize
Lecturer in History, Rhodes University
Xolela Mangcu
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Cape Town
Frank Edmund Smith
Professor Emeritus of English Literature, Harper College
Melissa Tandiwe Myambo
2017 Writing Fellow, Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg; Research Associate, Centre for Indian Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Johannesburg