BLOG POSTS

‘And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth’. As we all recalibrate our understanding of Empire, Sally Minogue reconsiders Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, in the first of a short series of blogs on literature and colonialism.  A few months ago, in the balmy Spring weather, I walked with friends… Read More

David Stuart Davies looks at one of Joseph Conrad’s later political novels.. The Secret Agent is a bleak novel, the gloom of which is alleviated by the subtle thread of humour which is woven into the story. The dark and often depressing mood of the book is said to have been influenced by Charles Dickens’… Read More

 ‘The Idiot’ was the third of Dostevesky’s classic novels. David Stuart Davies takes up the story. ‘The Idiot anticipates not just the concerns of twentieth century existentialist thought but heralds our modern age in general.’ Agnes Cardinal The Idiot (1869 ) is one of a trio of great Russian novels penned by Fyodor Dostoevsky which… Read More

David Stuart Davies looks at the major work by one of the greatest Russian authors. ‘We sit in the mud, my friend, and reach for the stars.’ Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) was a novelist poet and playwright, and one of the greatest figures of Russian literature. His novel Fathers and Sons (1862) is regarded as… Read More

David Stuart Davies looks at a classic tale of American history. ‘The Last of the Mohicans’. American author James Fenimore Cooper (1789 – 1851) penned five novels about frontier life across north-eastern America in the eighteenth century. Each novel features the rather oddly named character Natty Bumppo, a frontier scout known to European-American settlers as… Read More

Ben Hur. David Stuart Davies looks at the book behind the famous film. While the novel, Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ, has been called ‘the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century’, it is now mainly remembered by modern readers because of the celebrated 1959 movie starring Charlton Heston. However, by contrast, the author,… Read More

David Stuart Davies looks at a classic children’s story set in the time of the English Civil War. Frederick Marryat (1792 – 1848) wrote novels for both adults and children. He ran away to sea as a young boy and had a notable naval career, distinguishing himself by a number of heroic deeds and inventing… Read More

David Stuart Davies looks at the work of the author of some of the most popular children’s books ever written. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to animals or even inanimate objects. As a form of literary device, it has been around for aeons. Examples can be found in the Bible for example and,… Read More

‘His hair… hanging in disorder about his face, gave his restless looks an expression quite unearthly.’ In Barnaby Rudge, first published in 1841, Charles Dickens gave his readers an historical novel, basing his scenario around the Gordon Riots of 1780. These took place in London and were motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. The Papists Act of 1778,… Read More