The Politics of Envy
Why do we always seem to be drawn to what we don’t have? The stumbling block of how to pursue academic publications without fear of rejection. … More The Politics of Envy
Why do we always seem to be drawn to what we don’t have? The stumbling block of how to pursue academic publications without fear of rejection. … More The Politics of Envy
The difficulties of dealing with involuntary celibacy, from desolation to misogyny, seem to haunt some of Andrew Marvell’s most famous lyric poems. … More Was Marvell a seventeenth-century ‘incel’?
I was reminded this week how nerve-wracking it can be getting to grips with a master’s, and why I have my supervisor to thank for it. … More Learning a new language
There’s no escape from growing old, but can we escape the sense of inadequacy it can bring? Watching this unfold is perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of the BBC’s new drama, Apple Tree Yard. … More Dealing with inadequacy: Apple Tree Yard
October 28th still registers as one of the most important days in my calendar after a horrible incident 17 years ago. It’s a day that changed me forever. … More The day that changed me forever
The seventeenth-century poet Andrew Marvell received a mention in a recent Cosmopolitan article about Tinder. Would he really have approved of it, as its author claims? … More Would Marvell approve of Tinder? A response to Cosmopolitan
Green is the colour of innocence and experience, of sickness and of health. A glimpse at what it means to be ‘green’ in Andrew Marvell and William Shakespeare. … More Marvell, Shakespeare, and Green Sicknesses
What would change if you knew you had the chance to live your life repeatedly until you got it right? A story of a poem, a novel, and a show; fantasy, philosophy, and a game of numerous lifes. … More A Matter of Life and Death
The financial journalist Anthony Hilton says we’re losing something valuable by texting and emailing instead of talking. But does he go too far by suggesting that writing lacks patience, sensitivity, or any understanding of nuance? … More Writing lacks patience, tolerance, sensitivity or nuance. Discuss.
In the absence of just about anything else, 2015 is best described as a career year. But being labelled ‘green’ in October threatened to undermine all that had gone before. … More Fifty Shades of Green: An Epilogue, 2015