Plot Summary – Interesting Literature

A Summary and Analysis of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

One of the most original and endlessly thought-provoking dystopian novels of the whole twentieth century, A Clockwork Orange (1962) is Anthony Burgess’ best-known novel. But what is the message behind this curious novel?

Stanley Kubrick’s famous 1971 film adaptation of the novel departed from the novel in some respects, so it’s worth offering a brief summary of the plot of A Clockwork Orange before we ponder the meaning of this novel and offer some words of analysis. (We have compiled some curious Anthony Burgess facts here.)

A Summary and Analysis of Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Snow Queen’ Fairy Tale

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Hans Christian Andersen’s influence on the fairy tale genre was profound. Although ‘The Snow Queen’, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, and ‘The Ugly Duckling’ have the ring of timeless fairy stories, they were all original tales written by the Danish storyteller in the mid-nineteenth century.

First published in 1844, ‘The Snow Queen’ (divided into seven parts) is perhaps the most celebrated of all of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. But what does this story mean? You can read ‘The Snow Queen’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis.

A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s King John

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

In 1899, the great Victorian theatre director Herbert Beerbohm Tree made a short silent film to promote his forthcoming stage production of William Shakespeare’s history play, The Life and Death of King John. This short piece of silent cinema included footage of King John’s dying moments, along with three other clips from the production.

He didn’t choose the most famous play from the Shakespeare canon – indeed, you’d be hard-pushed to find a less well-known title – but in having King John committed to film, he was making cinema history. His King John film was the first ever time a Shakespeare play had been filmed.

‘Solid Objects’: A Summary of the Virginia Woolf Short Story

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Solid Objects’ is not as well-known or widely studied as some of Virginia Woolf’s other short stories, such as ‘The Mark on the Wall’ or ‘Kew Gardens’, but it is one of the most consummate statements of her modernist aesthetic. We’ll put together some thoughts on this story on Thursday, but in the meantime, here’s a brief summary of the ‘plot’ (if that word can even be used about such a story) of ‘Solid Objects’; the story itself can be read here.

Timon of Athens: A Short Plot Summary of Shakespeare’s Play

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Of all Shakespeare’s plays, Timon of Athens is perhaps the most easy to summarise in terms of its plot; certainly it’s up there in the top five of his plays with the simplest plot which can be summarised in just a few sentences. So we’ll keep the following plot summary brief.