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Articles on Classic literature

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Walden Pond was Thoreau’s sometimes chilly muse. Lane Turner for The Boston Globe/via Getty Images

5 wintry books to read during long nights

A literature professor suggests some classic reads to curl up with when it is cold.
A Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces member hugs a resident leaving his hometown following Russian artillery shelling in Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. AP Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak

What classic literature knows about refugees fleeing persecution and war

Classic literature is full of themes that speak to refugees’ experience today, from the Book of Exodus to ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’
Montaigne: his free-ranging essays were almost scandalous in their day. Étienne Dumonstier/Wikimedia Commons

Guide to the classics: Michel de Montaigne’s Essays

Montaigne anticipated much of modern thought, and was profoundly shaped by the classics. His Essays, so personal yet so urbane, continue to challenge and charm readers.
Icelandic sagas are under-appreciated in the world of European literature. Oscar Wergeland [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Guide to the classics: the Icelandic saga

Family feuds, love affairs, empire writing back to the motherland - the medieval Icelandic saga have it all. Though less known than other classics of European literature they richly deserve a place among the best.
In Athenian spirit. Carsten Rehder/EPA

If only we could ask Euripides about refugees

Berlin recently agreed to curb the number of migrants it welcomed after a backlash against Angela Merkel’s suspension of EU rules limiting numbers. It followed previous scenes of crowds welcoming new arrivals…
The curriculum review called for more “Western literature”. Given the curriculum is mostly Western literature already, perhaps we can take that to mean “more Bible”. Flickr/Ruth_W

Hooked on the classics: literature in the English curriculum

The National Curriculum Review was released this week, with the reviewers calling for a greater focus on “Western” literature in the English classroom. As former high school and primary English teachers…

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