- This project is creating a website dedicated to the theme “Great Writers inspire – learning from the past”. On the site you will be able to find freely available content related to individual authors and literary themes. We are using this blog to let you follow the progress of the project and explore the material as it is being made available. Feel free to send us your comments and suggestions! Want to be inspired? Explore the podcasts on the Great Writers Inspire podcast page.
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Brave New Worlds before Huxley and Orwell
In this guest blog, Dr Oliver Tearle, a lecturer at the University of Loughborough and founder of the Interesting Literature blog (also on Twitter @InterestingLit), examines the history of dystopian literature. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun ‘dystopia’ (defined as … Continue reading
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Tagged dystopia, Huxley, InterestingLit, More, Oliver Tearle, Orwell, Trollope, utopia, utopian literature, writers
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For the (Literary) Detective in you!
So it’s Monday again and everyone needs a little lift! So we thought we would offer you a light-hearted challenge to kick start your week… who famously praised Shakespeare’s work in the passage below? Extra brownie points for those who … Continue reading
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Tagged #greatwriters, Challenging the Canon, competition, Globe Theatre, Henry VI, Oxford Playhouse, Shakespeare
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A Medieval Mystery: Who Was the Pearl-poet?
In this guest blog, Hannah Ryley, an Oxford DPhil student, explores the anonymity of authorship in the Middle Ages. In the British Library there is a medieval manuscript with the shelfmark Cotton Nero A.x. Dull though this shelfmark may sound, … Continue reading
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Tagged #greatwriters, author, manuscript, medieval, Pearl poet
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Get Wilde
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 … Continue reading
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Tagged #greatwriters, Challenging the Canon, commute, Dickens, Great Writers, Oscar Wilde, oxford, podcast, Shakespeare
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A Magical Summer in Rhyme
Make the most of the wonderful weather we have been having recently by going on the Oxford Poetry Walk! Enjoy a 70 minute tour around the city with a selection of literary favourites such as Gerard Manley Hopkins and Oscar Wilde … Continue reading
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Jane in July!
To round off our week of Austen, we thought we’d let you know about the Oxford Theatre Guild‘s production of Pride and Prejudice, on tonight at Trinity College! All the Oxford Janeites out there should get down to Trinity’s velvety … Continue reading
Gifts to share
It is Shakespeare’s birthday (or thereabouts) and in looking for some gifts to share I came across this article on the BBC News website which discusses a new book ‘William Shakespeare Beyond Doubt’ edited by Professor Stanley Wells and Dr … Continue reading
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30 Great Myths about Shakespeare
Great Writers Inspire supporter, Dr Emma Smith, has co-authored a new book, 30 Great Myths about Shakespeare, with her University of Oxford colleague Professor Laurie Maguire. From the publisher’s website “Exploring and exploding 30 popular myths about the great playwright, … Continue reading
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Open Education Week 2013
Open Education Week is taking place from 11-15 March 2013 online and in locally hosted events around the world. The purpose of Open Education Week is to raise awareness of the open education movement and opportunities it creates in teaching … Continue reading
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Reading Recommendation: Alexander Pope’s ‘Dunciad’
In this guest blog, Joseph Hone, an Oxford DPhil student, argues for the pertinence of one of the ‘most unread literary masterpieces’ – Alexander Pope’s Dunciad. Have you ever warned somebody that a little learning is a dangerous thing, or … Continue reading
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