Monthly Archives: March 2012

Ben Jonson: Renaissance Playwright, Renaissance Man

Posted on March 31, 2012 by

Ben Jonson was an early modern playwright whose popularity rivalled that of Shakespeare or Marlowe. He spent multiple stints in prison, wrote masques in which the Queen of England and Prince of Wales performed, and was crowned England’s first poet … Continue reading →

Posted in writer | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Listen: Francis Leneghan on Beowulf

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

The title of this collaborative project, ‘The Great Writers Project’, naturally brings up several questions, most importantly of which is, ‘What is a Writer?’ In his talk on the Old English poem Beowulf, Francis Leneghan discusses that very concern. The … Continue reading →

Posted in ebooks, resource | Leave a comment

Releasing and reusing Creative Commons material

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

In this post I’m going to briefly cover some of the basics of Creative Commons (CC) licensing and some of the pitfalls to avoid when doing it. I work in Oxford University Computing Services, in a number of little projects … Continue reading →

Posted in project news | Leave a comment

Aphra Behn: A “Life dedicated to Pleasure and Poetry”

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

Aphra Behn was a bold, salacious, and pioneering individual. If Frances Burney made women writers respectable, it was Aphra Behn who put them on the map. Young Woman In 1640 Aphra Behn was born Eaffrey Johnson of Canterbury, the daughter of … Continue reading →

Posted in writer | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

You Read My Mind

Posted on March 19, 2012 by

I just wanted to draw your attention to some fascinating research on the act of reading… http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all Neuroscientists have discovered that reading stimulates several different parts of the brain, not just our language-processing centres. When we read metaphors such as … Continue reading →

Posted in reflection | 3 Comments

Watch and Listen: David Fallon on William Blake

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

In this podcast (video/audio), Dr David Fallon introduces the poetry, painting, and engraving of William Blake (1757-1827), focusing on the imaginative and visionary aspects of Blake’s work and his desire to break the public’s ‘mind-forg’d manacles’.  Blake is best known … Continue reading →

Posted in resource, writer | Leave a comment

Watch and Listen: Faith Binckes on Katherine Mansfield

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

In this podcast (video/audio), Dr Faith Binckes explains why modernist short story writer and critic Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) is a great writer, highlighting her involvement with the 1911-1913 periodical Rhythm, edited by her second husband John Middleton Murry. Katherine Mansfield … Continue reading →

Posted in resource, writer | Leave a comment