Showing titles in Literary History & Criticism

This is a bi-monthly podcast featuring songs and stories from some lesser known fairy tales and folk stories. Stories which lean toward the grisly and unnerving, stories which might help us deal with the ogres and wicked step mothers in our own lives. You can support this podcast by buying Julia a cup of tea here https://ko-fi.com/voxchops xox

A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted.

'I loved Goddess with a Thousand Faces. Fascinating, fun and thoughtful and enlightening' JENNIFER SAINT 'A beautiful weave of history, myth and storytelling by one of our most exciting new classicists' DAN SNOW Steeped in ancient magic, dark divinity and wild ways, Goddess with a Thousand Faces...

NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2025 ELLE BEST BOOKS OF 2025 'Essential reading' Irish Independent 'Fascinating and powerfully argued' Daily Telegraph 'A captivating must-read for anyone who wants to understand how and why misogyny is as powerful a force as ever'...

Speak, Memory, first published in 1951 as Conclusive Evidence and then assiduously revised in 1966, is an elegant and rich evocation of Nabokov’s life and times, even as it offers incisive insights into his major works, including Lolita, Pnin, Despair, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, and The Luhzin Defense.

Brought to you by Penguin. From the first moment Vincentio di Vivaldi, a young nobleman, sets eyes on the veiled figure of Ellena, he is captivated by her enigmatic beauty and grace. But his haughty and manipulative mother is against the match and enlists the help of her confessor to come...

A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl are two poems by an unknown author written in about 1400. Sir Gawain is a romance, a fairy-tale for...

What exactly are the weird and the eerie? In this new essay, Mark Fisher argues that some of the most haunting and anomalous fiction of the 20th century belongs to these two modes. The weird and the eerie are closely related but distinct modes, each possessing its own distinct properties. Both have often been associated with horror, yet this emphasis overlooks the aching fascination that such texts can exercise. The weird and the eerie both fundamentally concern the outside and the unknown, which are not intrinsically horrifying, even if they are always unsettling.

"Hi, my name is Conor. Other than my father being a bit of an eccentric lunatic, my life was pretty normal until I got attacked in my living room and whisked away to Tir na Nog, the mystical land of the ancient Celts, where it turns out Dad is the usurped heir to the throne and everybody wants me dead because of some prophecy. Don't you just hate when that happens?" Shadowmagic is a rip-roaring fun fantasy adventure novel by John Lenahan very loosely based on Irish mythology where every chapter ends on the edge of a cliff (or at least a high curb.) Join Conor as he grapples with typical ...

Join any Pride march and you are likely to see a glorious display of papier-mâché unicorn heads trailing sequins, drag queens wearing mermaid tails and more fairy wings than you can shake a trident at. But these are not just accessories: they are queer symbols with historic roots. Queer as Folklore is an exhilarating journey across centuries and continents which reveals the unsung heroes and villains of storytelling, magic and fantasy.

Batman is one of the most compelling and enduring characters to come from the Golden Age of Comics, and interest in his story has only increased through countless incarnations since his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. Why does this superhero without superpowers fascinate us? What does that fascination say about us? Batman and Psychology explores these and other intriguing questions about the masked vigilante.

A Times and Sunday Times Best Book of 2020 ‘Radical Wordsworth deserves to take its place as the finest modern introduction to his work, life and impact’ Financial Times ‘Richly repays reading … It is hard to think of another poet who has changed our world so much’ Sunday Times A...

Dark romance, romantasy, and spicy reads - served with chaos, warmth, and absolutely zero filter. The Spicy Librarian Podcast is the dark romance and romantasy podcast for readers who love yapping about books just as much as reading them. Every Thursday, D and Katie bring you honest, unhinged, and genuinely obsessive conversations about the romance books everyone is talking about, the indie titles you need to add to your TBR immediately, and the ones that kept them up until 3am. From morally grey love interests to enemies-to-lovers slow burns, from sapphic romance to why choose - if it's spicy...

Brought to you by Penguin. I can change the story because I am the story. With her execution looming, a woman is fighting for her life. Every night she tells a story. Every morning, she lives one more day. One Aladdin Two Lamps cracks open the legendary story of Shahrazad in One Thousand and One...

Conversations with the biggest names in horror fiction. A podcast for horror readers who want to know where their favourite stories came from . . . and what frightens the people who wrote them.

My three bullies will blackmail me into anything.When I logged into that chatroom, all I was looking for was an escape from the pressures of exams, strict parents, and high expectations.Little did I know that my desire for fun would plunge me into a dangerous game, one orchestrated by a group of corrupt, cruel, and callous students who revel in chaos and thrive on blackmail.Redwood’s most feared gang: Poison.They are hell-bent on burning this world of privilege to the ground, and they've set their sights on an innocent girl they met online—me.If anyone discovers the truth, my good girl ...

The secrets of the Halo Universe, the mysteries of the deepest parts of the Halo lore, the most hilarious and terrifying fun facts, all being provided by a group of fantastical personalities. Austin, Halo fanatic. James, Covenant enthusiast. Shane, passionate for Halo and its extensive universe. Connor, a deep love for Halo's Gravity Hammers and Brutes. These are your hosts. These are your friends. This is The Library. Join us in TERMINALS for exclusive aftershow content! Support us on Patreon! - patreon.com/jumperscape Check out our website! - jumperscape.com Show support and rate the show!

What is poetry? If music is sound organized in a particular way, poetry is a way of organizing language. It is language made special so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work - over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This little history is about some that have not. John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly four thousand years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our views of the world.

Ramayana must rank as one of the most loved and revered books of all time. A part of India's ancient Vedas, it is a beautiful story of romance and adventure. It recounts the history of Rama, said be an incarnation of the Godhead, and his divine consort Sita. Filled with magic and mysticism, it entrances the listener and stirs deeply moving emotions. At the same time its profound spiritual messages leave one feeling uplifted and enriched. This is a novelization of the classic. It contains all the essential narrative of the original Sanskrit poem.

Sneaking around with my brother’s best friend is the least of my worries…Haunted by my last heartbreak, I have sworn off my brother’s friends. They are nothing but trouble.Especially Alec Wolfe: heir to a billion-dollar fortune, high school hockey star, and my brother's best friend.I despise everything about him… that is until he sneaks into my bedroom during my brother's party and tangles me into a dangerous web of secrets and lies. Alec takes everything from me that night, including my heart.But as fate would have it, an ominous stalker, menacing threats, and sinister secrets ...