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Review: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (first published by Roberts Brothers, 1868)
‘Is Beth the rosy one, who stays home a good deal, and sometimes goes out with a little basket?’ asked Laurie, with interest.‘Yes, that’s Beth; she’s my girl, and a regular good one she is, too.’‘The pretty one is Meg, and the curly-haired one Amy, I believe?’‘How did you find that out?Laurie coloured up, but… Continue reading
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Hierarchy in Renaissance Drama: Epicoene and The Changeling
Ben Jonson’s Epicoene is a decidedly socially conservative play written and set in Renaissance London. As well as criticising lifelong singleness by ridiculing the life of his protagonist Morose, a misanthrope who attempts to marry only for the purpose of disinheriting his nephew, Jonson also advocates for male headship in romantic relationships through his censorious… Continue reading
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Translation as Metamorphosis in Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower’s Versions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses
The primary meaning of the verb translate is ‘To convert or render (a word, a work, an author, a language, etc.) into another language’. Thus, a translation is often understood as a (usually completed) work resembling that from which it is translated, often with the only difference between source and translation being the language. However,… Continue reading
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On Studying English Literature
Sometimes I wonder what people think English Literature as a discipline is. Not that I really need to wonder — people are usually very liberal in their communication of what they think it is you do, will go on to do, and the kind of person you are for having chosen to dedicate a handful… Continue reading
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Art, Literature, and Christian Anti-Intellectualism
Outside of the snobbery of what constitutes a ‘real’ academic discipline, some Christians are skeptical about the arts (the literary and performing arts in particular) believing them to be secularised spaces that represent only the proliferation of anti-biblical worldviews. They therefore scoff at the futility of mind of those who choose to study them, or,… Continue reading
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Titanic and Female Christian Thought
By the time we see Rose DeWitt Bukater having (very much having and not enjoying) her first meal on the Titanic, the cynicism revealed in her opening comments about the ship and in her attitude towards her mother and fiancé’s high society affectations has solidified into total disillusionment. When Bruce Ismay, the director of the… Continue reading
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‘Of Envy’ in Christian Womanhood
I recently revisited some of the Francis Bacon essays that were assigned as reading in the first year of my literature degree and was having a grand old time enjoying the transhistoricity of Bacon’s thoughts until I got to a line in ‘Of Envy’ that made my heart drop to my feet. In a single… Continue reading
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Atonement Revisited: On Writing and ‘The Briony Question’
I can’t technically join the masses in saying Atonement is Ian McEwan’s masterpiece, being the only novel of his that I’ve read. But I happily join them in singing its praises as a masterful piece of literature. McEwan’s prose is spellbindingly beautiful and the novel is rich with the metaphors and biting social commentary that… Continue reading