Literature – Page 5 – Interesting Literature

A Summary and Analysis of the Myth of Odysseus and the Cyclops

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

When is it a good idea to be nobody? There are some situations where it certainly pays to be Nobody, or rather, to claim to be ‘No One’. And one of the most famous episodes involving wily Odysseus (or Ulysses, as he was known to the Romans) bears this out.

But what exactly happened when Odysseus, the hero of the Trojan War, met Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops? Let’s take a closer look at this myth, and what Homer tells us about it in his great epic poem, the Odyssey.

A Summary and Analysis of Jorge Luis Borges’ ‘Everything and Nothing’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Everything and Nothing’ is a short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), although it is usually classified as a ‘parable’ rather than a ‘short story’ per se. Over the course of just a couple of pages, Borges gives us the life of a man who had no personality himself but created many different personalities through his work. It gradually becomes clear that the man is William Shakespeare.

A Summary and Analysis of Jorge Luis Borges’ ‘The Waiting’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Waiting’ is a 1950 short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). Alternatively known as ‘The Wait’, the story is about an unnamed man who flees to Buenos Aires who escape his enemy, a gangster named Villari. The story focuses on the man’s time spent waiting for Villari to catch up with him.

A Summary and Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s ‘Marionettes, Inc.’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Marionettes, Inc.’ is a 1949 short story by the American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012). The story was reprinted in Bradbury’s 1952 collection The Illustrated Man. It concerns a company which can manufacture lifelike plastic doubles of people; these ‘marionettes’ can then stand in for the person they resemble while the real person is elsewhere.

A Summary and Analysis of Anne Bradstreet’s ‘Verses upon the Burning of Our House’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10^th, 1666’ is a poem by Anne Bradstreet (1612-72), a Puritan poet who was the first person in America, male or female, to have a book of poems published. In 1650 her volume The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America appeared; sixteen years later, she wrote this poem in response to the fire that destroyed her home in Massachusetts.