By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The American author Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was a pioneer of what became known as the ‘techno-thriller’. He wrote novels informed by the latest up-to-date science on a range of issues, but what sets him apart is his willingness to adopt a contrarian position on scientific and technological developments, as well as social questions.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
George Orwell’s 1945 novella Animal Farm is at once children’s fable and political allegory. This double-edged quality to Orwell’s short novel means that Animal Farm requires some words of analysis to be fully appreciated.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The American writer Jack London (1876-1916) packed much into his forty years on this planet: he famously became the first author to become a millionaire from his writing, writing some fifty books in just sixteen years.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The influence of H. G. Wells (1866-1946) on science fiction goes without saying. Brian Aldiss, in Trillion Year Spree, call him the Shakespeare of science fiction, acknowledging his role in raising the emerging genre to an art form. The tales of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds are familiar to millions of people, even those who have never read Wells’s books, thanks to notable film adaptations.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The lead single from her 2022 album Midnights, ‘Anti-Hero’ contains some of Taylor Swift’s darkest lyrics. They are also among her most thought-provoking. However, they are also some of her most allusive, referring to numerous other pop-culture phenomena which need deciphering in order for them to make full sense.