Literature

Angela Smith on stories of the lives of 11 creatives interwoven to give an overview of the Great War from a range of perspectives

David Salter on a comprehensive analysis of the diverse work of a ‘poet of contradictions’

A look at theatre in the Elizabethan court indulges in some fantasies of its own, says Willy Maley

Robyn Arianrhod on the complex and contradictory life of the greatest physicist of all time

Peter J. Smith applauds a study of an innovative company of actors and their influence on Elizabethan theatre

Willy Maley praises a beautifully written account of the poet’s disaffection with the masses

Rachel Bowlby on a comprehensive history of literary theory and the various forms of criticism

Shahidha Bari savours a celebration of our relationship with food across genres and cultures

Geoffrey Galt Harpham on a timely reminder of the common root of modern human sciences

Sharon Wheeler on an ambitious investigation of crime fiction and its relation to modern society

Nigel Rodenhurst is dispirited by one-sided scholarship and an unwillingness to challenge a literary reputation

Leslie Gofton finds this fusion of memoir and essay blending academic learning, popular culture and politics fails to fully satisfy

Peter J. Smith is left bewildered by an ambitious attempt to identify the units that make up Shakespeare’s plays

Robert Eaglestone applauds a lively exploration of intertextuality in a work fit for a post-Wikipedia age

Sandeep Parmar on a brave, welcome crossing of anti-colonialist and feminist narratives

Which came first, the children’s novel or the adult novel? Shelley King finds out

Jeremy MacClancy on the evolving relations between two complementary disciplines in France in the first half of the 20th century

Rachel Bowlby expects some numerical discussion but finds only hefty claims

Shahidha Bari on a deliberately ‘marginal’ life of the grouchy great man of psychoanalysis

Newly-opened archives reveal celebrity guests’ true thoughts on Stalinism, says Yvonne Howell

Alison Stokes on a 19th-century volcanic eruption that caused a global climate disaster

Laura Frost on the needs met by an erotic best-seller

Duncan Wu on a collection of essays and reviews from a discerning critic

Vernon Bogdanor has a few points of order on an analysis of political fiction’s wider effects

Jane Darcy wonders if exhaustive analysis has left too little room for study of Romantic poet’s creative power

Uta Papan on an exploration of pregnancy texts

The Mephistopheles of the anglophone intelligentsia ponders a God-shaped hole, leaving Fred Inglis exhilarated and maddened

Peter J. Smith on the Elizabethan poets’ rejection of the Petrarchan faith in posthumous passion

Gary Day on a new biography that breathes some life into the war poet

William Poole on how a culture of literary commonplacing gradually gave way to one of scientific record-keeping

Elena Lombardi lauds a persuasive invitation to everyone yet to be beguiled by the Divine Comedy

Claire Chambers on how the national imaginings of the English changed during the Romantic period separating out notions of class and race

Advice from an astronomer would have benefited this exploration of connections between two subjects, says Virginia Trimble

Helen Smith takes a tour of a landmark year in literary and religious Jacobean culture

Jules Pretty salutes an account revealing an unnerving alteration in a place and its ecosystems

Robert Eaglestone bridles at provocative, yet tired, ‘quips’ from the Elvis of philosophers

Perceptive questions abound in this Western-oriented discussion, says Ursula King

Richard Williams on architectural criticism and how its narrowness affects our built landscape

Peter J. Smith on the question of the Bard’s faith

Peter Messent redefines the concept with close readings and illuminating insights

Colin Higgins on a history of printed materials that have uses but no readers

Eva Shan Chou lauds an original, erudite portrait of a writer whose courage matched her creativity

Gary Day on an exploration of new technologies’ effects on artists’ representation of the world

Her Star Trek dream dashed, Noel-Ann Bradshaw is still delighted by the science of impossible tales

Claire Chambers on how the colonial legacy is reflected in Mancunian writers’ work

Laura Frost on a portrayal of abstinence not as an absence of sex, but as an organisation of pleasure

The latest work from a leading literary critic expounds a wealth of ideas, says Robert Eaglestone

Peter Gwyn finds an attempt to put More’s writings into historical context less than clear

Authors emulating Western literature have created their own voice, says Robert Appelbaum

The simple life may be a carefully contrived one, says Biancamaria Fontana

Sheila Rowbotham on a great writer whose contrary aspects are impossible to sum up

Willy Maley on one of the most important works in the English language

Sandeep Parmar is tantalised by the notion of the political in Modernism

With the stage set for passionate religious argument, Helen Smith takes her seat

Jane Darcy on wanderers’ thoughts turning to home

Robert Mayhew on the vision, dignity and achievement of two centuries of armchair travellers

Richard Bosworth on an exploration of Pound’s activism before and during the Second World War

Chris Jones on a passionate, personal account of poetry’s power

Clare Brant revels in a compelling evocation of non-conformists in the capital’s cultural ‘heart’

Tom Wright on a study of how three late 19th century writers contemplated humanity’s impact on the environment