Literature

Jean Bloch expounds the new thinking which sees the Revolution as a catalytic period for literature, fusing Enlightenment philosophies with the fervour engendered by a tumultuous time.

Michael House examines the life of the unconventional poet.

Janet Backhouse explores the Illuminated Books of Gothic England.

Philip Collins argues that Dickens' writing reflects not only a marvellous rapport with a cross-section of Victorian society but an integration of populism with a concern for 'the raising up of those that are down.'

Kenneth Fowler looks at the genius of the 14th-century French courtier and chronicler and how he captured the spirit of his age in a sophisticated and complex narrative.

On 4th April 1944, Anne Frank wrote, 'I want to go on living even after my death!' Four months later, she and her family left for a concentration camp after capture by the Gestapo, and she died from typhus at Bergen-Belsen in March 1945, aged fifteen years.

Peter Stansky contrasts two socialist visions for the world, one optimistic and one pessimistic.

Kipling's view of imperialism, explain Fred Reist and David Washbrook, was a more complex one than his single, famous line quoted often out of context, 'Oh, East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.' 

Dracula, the vampire that haunts our dreams, is the one created by the 19th-century author, Bram Stoker: but, as Paul Dukes explains here, there is a basis in fact and eastern European legend for the ghoul.

John McVeagh