In the middle of the 17th century, Mrs Townsend found a lump in her breast. Diagnosed with breast cancer by a local physician, she underwent a mastectomy without anaesthetic –…Read More >
English Literature
Taking Publishers’ Archives Online: The Modernist Archives Publishing Project
The publishing industry decides what gets published and determines whose voices get heard. The books we read are shaped by the people who produce them, and a publisher’s archive is…Read More >
Happy Days – creating art from archives
It is well-known that the University’s Special Collections are home to the world’s largest archive for the Nobel-Prize winning writer, Samuel Beckett with over 600 items of original material, including…Read More >
Five eye-catching graphic novels that define the genre
Even for English professor, David Brauner, who teaches about the graphic novel, compiling an all-time top five list is challenging. It’s not just the way that such a list is…Read More >
Book clubs and the Blitz: how WWII Britons kept calm and got reading
As people remain confined to their homes, options for what we do with our free leisure time has become restricted. Associate Professor Nicola Wilson from the School of Literature and…Read More >
The Jungle Book: more than just an imperialist tale for children?
Is Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book a simple allegory for colonial rule in India? Or is it about what it is to belong, and to be human? Ahead of her…Read More >
Ayn Rand from the left: academics gather to examine Trump’s favourite author
Ayn Rand’s books have been made into films, topped bestseller lists and admired by capitalists from Reagan to Trump. Until now, left-leaning thinkers have failed to take her seriously –…Read More >
Grisly ‘love poem’ anniversary allows reflection on changing attitudes towards women
by Professor Peter Stoneley, Head of Department, English Literature, University of Reading A poem about a man who murdered his wife isn’t an obvious choice for Valentine’s Day, but Oscar…Read More >
Poems about places and pasts: an extract from ‘On Magnetism’
Steven Matthews is professor of English Literature, University of Reading. His latest book of poetry, On Magnetism, was launched this week. It features poems about loss and remembrance, about the relation…Read More >
Jane Austen on money: How new face of £10 note should be remembered
By Dr Rebecca Bullard, Department of English Literature, University Reading Jane Austen would, I think, have been delighted to feature on the new £10 note. Many of her novels are…Read More >