As COVID-19 forces us to work from home and attend endless online meetings, our bookshelves are suddenly on public display. An online conference this November will be critically examining this particular cultural phenomenon
Richard Danson Brown is a Professor of English Literature at the OU. In this blog, he discusses the work of Edmund Spenser, written in the 16th century, during the height of the plague. Find out what his writing tells us about that experience
Helen Chambers is an Honorary Associate in English at the OU. She explores the role that reading played for those embarking on epic voyages to Australia in the late nineteenth century, namely those who travelled on the purpose-built passenger clipper the Torrens
Dr Shafquat Towheed, Senior Lecturer in English at The Open University, discusses the role that reading is playing in helping us to navigate lockdown and reminds us how 'the well-curated bookcase has become a manifestation of our mental state'
In this article by Dr Edmund King, Lecturer in English at the OU, the concept of 'Doomscrolling' is explored - absorbing excessive, negative news via our digital devices - and highlights how our reading habits are changing to manage pandemic-induced anxieties
Patrick Wright teaches Literature and Creative Writing at the OU and is currently working on a PhD; a poetry collection called Cold Dark Matter. In this piece, Patrick shares his experience of studying for a PhD during lockdown while also grieving the loss of a partner
In a series by the OU and Institute of English Studies, Professor Sara Haslam highlights the literature of Mary Ward and Rebecca Solnit, two authors who 'simultaneously appreciate the basic connectedness between members of this human race'
Dr Sally O’Reilly, Lecturer in Creative Writing writes for The Conversation about the popularity of ghost stories at Christmas.
Michael Rodgers' (Honorary Associate and Associate Lecturer in English, FASS) monograph, Nabokov and Nietzsche: Problems and Perspectives, has been awarded The Jane Grayson Prize by the International Vladimir Nabokov Society for a first book of 2018 that makes a significant contribution to Nabokov studies. The prize comes with a $1500 award.
Dr Helen Chambers, an Honorary Research Fellow and former PhD student in the Department of English & Creative writing has collaborated on a new collection of stories by Guy de Maupassant: Mademoiselle Perle and Other Stories (Riverrun Editions, 2020).
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