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Thackeray’s Kensington Home: An Awkward Evening in Literary London
Read more…: Thackeray’s Kensington Home: An Awkward Evening in Literary LondonThackeray’s Home on Young Street Walking along Young Street in Kensington, London, it is easy to miss the modest house at number 16. Somewhat overshadowed by the neighbouring tower blocks, it may escape the notice of passers-by who are unaware that, in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was an important place on London’s…
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The Strange Legacy of Jeremy Bentham
Read more…: The Strange Legacy of Jeremy BenthamDiscovering an unusual story London is full of remarkable curiosities. You can explore it endlessly, walking through it in all directions and each time following a different idea or theme. However, the most unusual thing I have discovered so far is connected with the remains of Jeremy Bentham – or rather with what he decided…
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Virginia Woolf’s London – A Literary Guide to the City (Part 2)
Read more…: Virginia Woolf’s London – A Literary Guide to the City (Part 2)London is enchanting. I step out upon a tawny coloured magic carpet, it seems, and get carried into beauty without raising a finger. Virginia Woolf Diary, 26 May 1924 Virginia Woolf’s Bloomsbury: 46 Gordon Square and 29 Fitzroy Square Walking through Bloomsbury today, it is easy to see calm squares, elegant terraces, and university buildings. At…
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A Song from the Past: Joyce, Music, and Memory
Read more…: A Song from the Past: Joyce, Music, and MemoryMusic in James Joyce’s The Dead The work of James Joyce is full of music. It is not used only as decoration, but also as a way to express hidden feelings and inner emotions. This is especially clear in the short story The Dead, where Joyce uses the song The Lass of Aughrim to give…
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The Birth Date of Sherlock Holmes: Fact, Tradition, and Interpretation
Read more…: The Birth Date of Sherlock Holmes: Fact, Tradition, and InterpretationWhy January 6 became a literary tradition The Epiphany, celebrated a few days ago, is, for me, a day naturally linked to James Joyce’s short story The Dead, as its action takes place on 6 January. The same date, however, also appears in a very different part of literary culture: as the traditional birthday of…
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A Christmas Carol: Dickens’s London and the Making of a Classic
Read more…: A Christmas Carol: Dickens’s London and the Making of a ClassicA ghostly journey toward redemption A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is among the most influential Christmas stories in English literature, combining social criticism with a tale of moral transformation. The novella tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old man visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his former partner and three…
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1914 Christmas Truce: A Moment of Humanity in the Heart of War
Read more…: 1914 Christmas Truce: A Moment of Humanity in the Heart of WarThe war that consumed a generation The first thing that came to my mind while visiting the exhibition about the First World War at the Imperial War Museum in London was the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. The book shows the cruelty and absurdity of war through the experiences…
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Small things like these: From Novella to Ireland’s Dark History
Read more…: Small things like these: From Novella to Ireland’s Dark HistorySmall Things Like These – a quiet Christmas story with a sharp edge Christmas is coming. And maybe this time, instead of Dickens, we could read Claire Keegan. Instead of A Christmas Carol, Small Things Like These, a Booker Prize finalist from three years ago. A moving story full of Christmas spirit, about the power…
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Virginia Woolf’s London – A Literary Guide to the City (Part 1)
Read more…: Virginia Woolf’s London – A Literary Guide to the City (Part 1)22 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington (1882–1904) While visiting London recently, I couldn’t resist returning to this place. I sat on the steps across the street and gazed at the stately townhouse where Virginia Woolf was born on January 25, 1882, as Adeline Virginia Stephen, the youngest daughter of the successful author and critic Sir Leslie…
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The Gravediggers: Joyce’s Dublin Between Life and Death
Read more…: The Gravediggers: Joyce’s Dublin Between Life and DeathGlasnevin Cemetery – Dublin’s national necropolis Glasnevin Cemetery is Dublin’s national necropolis and one of the city’s most important literary landscapes. It is a place where memory, history, and everyday life meet – right beside The Gravediggers pub. Established in 1832, Glasnevin is the final resting place of over a million people, including many important…
Exploring the paths that literature opens
