Category: Literary Studies
Posts of studies, opinions, and reviews on English literature and authors.
A Date with Chesterton
Amanda Platz The anthology entitled In Defense of Sanity claims to contain some of G.K. Chesterton’s best essays. His essays are, of course, numerous and incredible. Some of the essays […]
Time Travel, Historical Theft, and Marie Antoinette?―Invictus by Ryan Graudin
Dynestee Fields Time flies when you’re plundering history. (147) Ryan Graudin, author of The Walled City, the Wolf by Wolf duology, and the All that Glows series, is back with a brand new […]
America’s Unknown History―The Baby Black-Market
Rebecca Reese Before We Were Yours is a historical fiction novel written by Lisa Wingate. Some other works by Wingate include The Prayer Box, The Story Keeper, Tending Roses, and many other […]
Hate, Justice, and Conquering—Inspiration from Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give”
Kierra Gilbert The world we live in is full of many different things: there are good people, bad people, violence, adventures, hate, love, enemies, friendship and memories. These make up […]
The Hope of Health in John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down
Jahanna Bolding ‘I’ve noticed you use that word a lot, crazy. And you sound angry when you say it, almost like you’re calling yourself a name.’ ‘Well, everyone’s crazy these days, […]
Antiques in the Nursery
Dynestee Fields The literary palates of children have been a great debate in the adult world. The participants in this war of philosophies include authors who dream of catering to […]
Stalking the Ripper
Miranda Alexander I placed my thumb and forefinger on the icy flesh, spreading it taut above the breastbone as Uncle had showed me. (From the first line of Stalking Jack the […]
Wayne C. Booth—Macbeth and Tragic Heroes
Priscilla Collins In “Macbeth as Tragic Hero,” literary critic and University of Chicago professor Wayne C. Booth discusses the amazing ability of William Shakespeare. Through Booth’s writing, he highlights how […]
What Should We Teach in High School Literature Classes?
Paul Schleifer, SWU Professor If you were to come to my house, you might notice that the molding in one of our bathrooms is incomplete. It’s been incomplete for quite a […]
Prelude to ‘Faery’—Two Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien
Chad Chisholm, CIFC Director The following video lecture discusses two lesser-known stories by renowned author J.R.R. Tolkien—Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. Our conversation will explore the […]
Gothic Horror, Christian Ethos—Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black
Chad Chisholm, CIFC Director While the 2012 movie, with its countless changes and deviations from the original storyline, has shaped the most recent perceptions of Susan Hill’s gothic story The […]
Melody at the Edge of Apocalypse—Music in Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon
Zachary Wheeler When I consider a world without music, it brings tears to my eyes. For me, music is my biggest passion. Music is in every fiber of my being […]