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All-boys’ schools often choose texts for English study written by men. But the sexism goes beyond that. They are more likely to shy away from any exploration of gender in literature.
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Where solitary reading drives us into ourselves, reading aloud can be a deeply sensuous experience
The gravestone of John Keats in Rome’s ‘non-Catholic’ cemetery.
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Doubt can be uncomfortable. It is often tempting to jump to conclusions. But Keats counsels otherwise.
The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon by Edward Burne Jones.
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It’s a malleable mythos that has been adapted by kings and queens as well as artists and filmmakers.
Like the best myths, the tale of Igbo Landing and the flying African seems to transcend boundaries of time and space.
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The myth has become a symbol of the traumatizing legacy of trans-Atlantic slavery. It also serves as a form of resistance and healing.
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They can seem daunting to write but are wonderful to receive so here are a handful of tips to write your own love poem.
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Funny poems get a bad rap but their humour can provoke interesting conversations and reach a wide demographic.
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Writers did it themselves back in the 19th-century so modern period dramas should be cut some slack for trying to prioritise modern aesthetic tastes over historical accuracy.
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On house arrest, Xavier de Maistre took a journey around his room where he discovered there was much to wonder at.
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A french classic has had a thoroughly modern update, meditating on themes of class, race and colonialism.
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Cultures worldwide are awash with tales of great floods. What can they tell us about the reality of a wetter world?
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Created by a prolific French author, Inspector Jules Maigret observes without judgement and moves like a chameleon between social classes.
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The 1921 play R.U.R. introduced the world to the word ‘robots’. Its plot is remarkably similar to robot stories told today.
Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton.
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The Regency period was full of gossip and scandal, something Bridgerton gets right. However, it leaves out the period’s grim record on slavery.
Statue of James Joyce reading at his grave in Zurich, Switzerland.
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Get past the first 100 pages and you’ll see that Joyce’s style of writing mostly goes against what philosophers understand of the stream of consciousness.
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Based on Joanna Rakoff’s memoir of working for JD Salinger’s agent, the film lacks some of the wit but none of the heart of Joanna’s story.
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With the third national lockdown under way, how can E.M. Forster’s neglected masterpiece help us survive the next few months?
Japanese author Yukio Mishima speaks to Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers at Tokyo’s military garrison station on Nov. 25, 1970.
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Like a Rorschach test, the incident offers limitless interpretations. But newly published photographs of Yukio Mishima in his final weeks alive show an artist obsessed with scripting out death.
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Looking closer at the Spanish writer’s life work shows that social and cultural prejudices have kept us from seeing the full picture
We all read much more than we give ourselves credit for.
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Want to read more but feel overwhelmed or struggle to find the time? Here are five tips to help you on your way.