Literature

Pamela Robinson considers the post-Reformation book collectors whose choices spoke volumes

Nostalgia was once taboo in academe but a new generation is unafraid to explore longing and loss, says Alastair Bonnett

No, not the claim of many a self-help guru, but increasingly the mantra of modern academics. Matthew Reisz finds out why they are dipping their toes in the genre, despite its lack of scholarly kudos

Mathematician Robin Wilson's enthusiasm for Lewis Carroll stems from a shared delight in the brain-teasing and magical world of numbers. Matthew Reisz reports

Undergraduates who see creative writing as an 'easy' degree dismay a tutor accustomed to the dedication of adult education students

Creative writing is as popular today as critical theory was a decade ago. Why the change, asks Penny Hancock, and how does it fit in with the study of English literature?

Pamela Clemit on the electrifying hum of ideas that jolted Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to life

Aid 'labouring students' to bring knowledge to life, urges Leeds Met pro v-c. Rebecca Attwood reports

Robert Gillett on Erika and Klaus Mann's bittersweet relationships with family and country

Philip Smallwood on a polemicist's progress

Scholars must challenge the copyright laws, which allow estates to stifle efforts to generate new ideas about an author's works, argues Alistair McCleery

What did the stand-up tell academics who want to give better lectures? It's no laughing matter - it's about performing in the moment, Tariq Tahir hears

Despite prevailing orthodoxies, creative writing is stealthily reviving liberal humanism, says Jonathan Taylor

Erotic fiction is not just for entertainment, it can also serve as a study of female sexuality, believes Mitzi Szereto

Lancaster and Manchester move to give students more time with tutors, writes Rebecca Attwood

Ian Patterson wishes a study built around writers' day-to-day concerns wasn't quite so workaday

Stephen Gundle on the tales a beloved wooden puppet has to tell about his creator's country

The emphasis on learning outcomes and benchmarks in the context of English literature is little more than a straitjacket that stifles the originality and creativity of both author and student critic, argues Derek Attridge

New AHRC deputy is keen to avoid past errors and to engage scholars in planning ahead, says Zoe Corbyn