Bored on your commute home? You’re in fine company. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde wrote, “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.” You can actually read Wilde’s Life and Confessions as a free eBook here, and see how sensational he really was, or if he was just living by his maxim: “Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.” But if your eyes are already tired and strained, you can court controversy by listening to a great podcast by Sophie Duncan on Wilde’s women.
In other news, our new site is going live very very soon! We’ve given it a whole new face, updated all the researchers and authors, and catalogued hundreds of new resources. Make sure you check in soon: follow us on Twitter or Facebook to get more frequent updates.
We’ve also added some stellar content, already available on Oxford University’s Podcasting site: the new mini-series, “Challenging the Canon”, is now available to download or stream. It’s been really popular so far (which is why it’s first on the homepage!)… and did we mention, like all our other resources, it’s free? If you’ve ever wanted to satisfy your inner 11-year-old and ask, “yes, but why is Dickens worth studying?” or “why is Shakespeare such a big deal?” then try listening to the answers of academic experts who have devoted their careers to exploring a Great Writer.
Speaking of great writers, we’re all about Shakespeare in Oxford. If you didn’t manage to get your fix with Oxford Shakespeare Company’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, then check out OUDS’s production of The Comedy of Errors at the University Church – finishing tomorrow!
Finally, launch yourself into the breach this September with Creation Theatre’s Henry V, in the dramatic setting of the Oxford Castle. Now, away, you mouldy rogue, away! (2 Henry IV (2.4.117))
