Utopia

Richard Jefferies’ ‘Dystopian’ Vision: After London

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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle visits a futuristic London that is decidedly medieval

Richard Jefferies, who appears to have been the first person to use the phrase ‘wild life’ to describe the natural world in 1879, is one of England’s greatest ever nature writers. But what is less well-known is that he was also a novelist. If his novels are recalled, it tends to be his book Bevis, a tale featuring a group of young boys who play games and build things and otherwise amuse themselves among the natural world, which is mentioned.

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Brave New Worlds before Huxley and Orwell

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In this guest blog post written for the excellent Great Writers Inspire blog, run by the University of Oxford, our founder-editor Dr Oliver Tearle explores the complex history of dystopian fiction. Click on the link below to visit the Great Writers Inspire site and read the blog post, which includes details of the science fiction novel written by … Read more

Guest Blog: Aldous Huxley’s Island

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By David Izzo (Shaw University, Raleigh NC) To be capable of love –this is, of course, about two thirds of the battle; the other third is becoming capable of the intelligence that endows the love with effectiveness in an obscure and complicated and largely loveless world. It is not enough merely to know, and it … Read more