InterestingLiterature

Book Review: East of the Wardrobe

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys a new study of the unexpected worlds of C. S. Lewis

December has always been the month read C. S. Lewis. Perhaps it was growing up reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the land of Narnia being in the grip of a perpetual (if Christmas-free) winter; perhaps it’s because I have always had a soft spot for that moment in the 1993 Richard Attenborough biopic of Lewis’s life and love, Shadowlands, in which the choir of Oxford University sing ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ as Lewis negotiates the new relationship that is blossoming between him and Joy Davidman.

Book Review: Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Of all the authors whose works most follow Kafka, Ferenc Karinthy is unlikely to be a name to leap to most readers’ lips. He remains virtually unknown in English-speaking countries. And yet his 1970 novel Metropole is a quintessential Kafkaesque piece which also, at times, manages to take Kafka’s ideas in new directions, recalibrating the central premise of Kafka’s work in startling and sometimes amusingly satirical ways.

The Best Aldous Huxley Books Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was an important twentieth-century writer whose work often explored some of the ‘biggest’ and most important ideas of his day. The following pick of his best books include a work documenting his experiences of drug-taking, classic dystopian fiction, radical utopian vision, and social satires of the ‘roaring twenties’.

Book Review: The Book Lover’s Almanac

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys Alex Johnson’s new compendium of ‘on this day’ literary nuggets

I began this blog eleven years ago to this day, back on 1 December 2012. Since then, I have broadened my range from curious facts about literary genres and specific authors to more in-depth analysis of classic works of literature, as well as some less canonical books, poems, and other literary texts. I’ve even branched out and started analysing song lyrics, whenever a particular song strikes me as worthy of discussion, or whenever I learn something curious about a song or artist.

A Summary and Analysis of O. Henry’s ‘After Twenty Years’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘After Twenty Years’ is a short story by the American writer O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). A trademark of the O. Henry story is the surprise twist ending, and ‘After Twenty Years’ is a classic example of this. The story is about two friends who agree to meet up after twenty years to compare each other’s lives.