OUPblog » Literature

How to co-write a book 3,000 miles apart: In Dialogue with Dickens RB lives outside Boston in the United States, PD across the Mersey from Liverpool, England. We have never met in person. ...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/04/how-to-cowrite-a-book-3000-miles-apart-in-dialogue-with-dickens-long-read/

Forgotten books and postwar Jewish identity In recent years, Americans have reckoned with a rise in antisemitism. Since the 2016 presidential election, antisemitism exploded online and ente...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/04/forgotten-books-and-postwar-jewish-identity/

How well do you know Shakespeare’s plays? Brush up on your Shakespeare with our quiz! OUPblog - Academic insights for the thinking world.

https://blog.oup.com/2024/04/how-well-do-you-know-shakespeares-plays-quiz/

Society was to blame for the letters, not twisted psychologies In complex ways, social inequalities create the conditions for people to feel that writing anonymously might be useful for the...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/04/society-was-to-blame-for-the-letters-not-twisted-psychologies/

England and Egypt in the early middle ages: the papal connection When the Venerable Bede (d. 735) looked out from his Tyneside monastery across the North Sea, over the harbour at Jarrow Sla...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/england-and-egypt-in-the-early-middle-ages-the-papal-connection/

Thinking disobediently? A person who “thinks disobediently” can be invigorating, maddening, or both. The life and writings of Henry David Thoreau have provoked just such mixed reactions...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/thinking-disobediently/

Conversations with Dostoevsky The first time I visited St Petersburg, nearly thirty years ago, I stayed not far from the area in which Dostoevsky set the action of Crime and Punishment. The...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/conversations-with-dostoevsky/

How well do you know your ancient Greek literature? From Homer to Euripides, ancient Greek literature has an abundance in poetry, prose and plays – but how well do you think you know the...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/how-well-do-you-know-your-ancient-greek-literature-quiz/

Alice Mustian’s scandalous backyard performance The year 1614 was an eventful one for the London theatre world. Shakespeare’s Globe playhouse, rebuilt after having burned to the ground ...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/alice-mustians-scandalous-backyard-performance/

How well do you know fantasy literature? Are you an avid fantasy fiction reader, or are you new to the world of dragons, mythic quests and magical worlds? Either way, test your knowledge of...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/how-well-do-you-know-fantasy-literature/

Homer’s Penelope and the myth of the ‘model military wife’ Ostensibly a tale of the adventures of a soldier, Homer’s ancient Greek epic Odyssey also has at its heart the remarkable ...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/homers-penelope-and-the-myth-of-the-model-military-wife/

Written in the stars: Prince Hal’s almanac Prince Hal addresses Poins in the Boar’s Head Tavern in William Shakespeare’s 2 Henry IV, exclaiming “Saturn and Venus this year in conjun...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/03/written-in-the-stars-prince-hals-almanac/

The third sister: beauty, and why the aesthetic matters In the current critical/political atmosphere, the “aesthetic” has come to be regarded as the province of dandies and their descen...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/02/the-third-sister-beauty-and-why-the-aesthetic-matters/

Exploring different facets of love in eight history books As Valentine’s Day approaches, we’ve curated a special reading list that considers the complexities of love, society, and huma...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/02/exploring-different-facets-of-love-in-eight-history-books-reading-list/

Françoise de Graffigny and Electronic Enlightenment ‘Ah mon Dieu, tu n’es plus ici. Voila les pleurs qui reccomensent.’ These melancholic words open the first of 173 newly ...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/02/francoise-de-graffigny-and-electronic-enlightenment/

A librarian’s reflections on 2023 What did 2023 hold for academic libraries? What progress have we seen in the library sector? What challenges have academic libraries faced? OUPblog - A...

https://blog.oup.com/2024/01/a-librarians-reflections-on-2023/

7 ways to deal with the rejection of your manuscript submission Publication in peer-reviewed journals is an integral part of academic life, but however successful you are in your research c...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/12/7-ways-to-deal-with-the-rejection-of-your-manuscript-submission/

Chick Webb meets Chick Webb: Fact and fiction in James McBride’s new novel Chick Webb’s drumbeats resonate through much of James McBride’s fast-paced new novel "The Heaven & Earth Gro...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/12/chick-webb-meets-chick-webb-fact-and-fiction-in-james-mcbrides-new-novel/

Napoleon’s cinematic empire: a fascination with film Given his decided penchant for spectacle—he crowned himself emperor, after all—there is no reason to be surprised that Napoleon’...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/11/napoleons-cinematic-empire-a-fascination-with-film/

Breakthrough and disgrace: Knut Hamsun’s Hunger and Pan in retrospect The 2023 award of the Nobel Prize for literature to the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse brings Norwegian...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/11/breakthrough-and-disgrace-knut-hamsuns-hunger-and-pan-in-retrospect/

When fame is not enough: Margaret Walker and the twentieth-century South Maryemma Graham on writing "The House Where My Soul Lives: The Life of Margaret Walker", the complete, authorized bi...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/10/when-fame-is-not-enough-margaret-walker-and-the-twentieth-century-south/

On the launching of a new library of classical Chinese literature 250 years ago, Ji Yun compiled one of the world’s largest premodern encyclopedias for the Chinese court. This fall Oxford...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/10/on-the-launching-of-a-new-library-of-classical-chinese-literature/

Human rights are not a “luxury belief”: why Suella Braverman’s rhetoric is dangerously misguided David Herd explores the language of human rights and why Home Secretary Suella Braverm...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/10/human-rights-are-not-a-luxury-belief-why-suella-bravermans-rhetoric-is-dangerously-misguided/

On Shakespeare’s “illiteracy” This year marks 400 years since the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio, but why was he singled out for his lack of knowledge about classics, as wel...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/10/on-shakespeares-illiteracy/

Found in translation: how the amateur translator brought Asian classics to a 19th century audience Today, translation is a professionalized activity closely linked to the publishing industr...

https://blog.oup.com/2023/10/found-in-translation-how-the-amateur-translator-brought-asian-classics-to-a-19th-century-audience/