The Romantic Reputation of John Keats
On his death, John Keats and his work looked sure to be forgotten. Why is his poetry now so well-loved?
Literature
What’s in a Name?
Erasing women writers in the name of uplifting them.
Angels Ever Bright and Fair
The ‘Angels of Mons’, a short story written in the earliest days of the First World War, became an enduring symbol of British providence.
The True Meaning of Frankenstein
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is not a commentary on the Industrial Revolution, nor is it a simple retelling of the myth of Prometheus. It is far more original than that.
Chaucer: The Poet in His World
Is a biography of Chaucer impossible?
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover (Quote)
How does the reader decide if a history book is worth their time?
The Enigma of Emily Brontë
Since the moment Emily Brontë died we have tried – and failed – to understand who she was.
The Medieval Invention of Fiction
What goes on in other people’s minds? The idea of writing about what we can never know – the interior lives of others – was born in the fertile hybrid culture of 12th-century England and made possible by the pursuit of romantic love.
Don’t Judge an Olympia Press Book by its Cover
A Parisian pornographer who modernised literature with Olympia Press, Maurice Girodias concealed counter-cultural classics behind deceptively drab covers.
The Best History Books 2017
From ancient Greece to the Second World War, from the papacy to the Antichrist, from Byzantium to China and the story of the Jewish people, historians select their favourite books of the past year.