Books

Rory Stewart’s ‘Middleland: Dispatches from the Borders’ in review

Middleland (2025) is not his masterpiece, but it is as much worth reading as any of his work – erudite, perceptive, and beautifully written.

Books Hassan Akram -

Lost and found: The art of translation

Translation should be more than mechanic substitution. It demands that the translator acts as a conduit, conveying the intricacies of emotion, style, and intention, while negotiating the hurdles of linguistic complexity.

Books Beatrix Arnold -

How does an Oxford student read for fun?

No matter which book is in front of me, I’m almost always reading in twenty-second bursts, and I’m constantly thinking about what else I could be looking at if I only picked up my phone.

Books Ben O'Brien -

Damaging detachment: Reflections on the Booker Prize

This Christmas vac, I made up my mind to get out of my reading slump using the Booker Prize shortlist, revealing toxic masculinity as a key theme.

Books Charlie Bailey -

Latest

Some New Angles on Perspective

A preview of Thinking 3D (Treasury Room, Weston Library), on from March 21st 2019 until February 9th 2020.

A tapestry of living and dead: Max Porter on his new book, ‘Lanny’

An exploration of Max Porter, in conversation with Ali Shaw, and his new novel, Lanny.

The Epilogue of a Lifetime

Julian Barnes’ third of three essays 'The Loss of Depth’ is an epilogue in form and in subject-matter, trapping the pulse of his wife’s memory in his intimate and moving portrait of grief.

Othering Ourselves

Hazy memories and complicit passivity allow Ishiguro’s characters to construct a protective outsider status

Would you risk your life on God? Reflections on Professor John Lennox’s ‘Can Science Explain Everything?’

Prompted by Professor John Lennox's new book, Jack Sagar grapples with questions about science, God, and the faith that binds us all together.

Urban Decay

Exploring the metropolis in 1890s Decadent literature and its origins in Baudelaire and Huysman

Reality check: the power of relatable crises

"Conflicts in literature don’t work when they fail to resonate". Regardless of genre, books are most impactful when their crises are rooted in everyday human experience.

The Crisis of Creon

'Peripeteia', reversal of fortune, for Sophocles' Creon in 'Antigone' is a wincingly fatal consequence of his tragic decision.

Satiating Sá-Carneiro

Exploring the life and work of an acclaimed Portuguese writer, at the heart of which lies the desire to discover.

Resisting bodily urges: extreme asceticism in medieval female saints’ lives

The modern-day 'anorexia memoir' has its origin in the genre of medieval saints' lives

Why do we write?

We write for ourselves, for the reader, and for wider society. And I think that’s probably a good enough reason to write an article for Cherwell.

The anxiety of envy

"Big names dominate the industry, and yet their fiction feels incredibly same-y."

Knight Of: read the one percent

Juliet Garcia covers the launch of Knight Of's crowdfunding campaign, centred around BAME children's literature.

The Bookshelf: Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Solitude’

As part of our new blog series ‘The Bookshelf’, Jenny Scoones finds solace in Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Solitude’.

2019 Booklist: The Best is Yet to Come

With the new year comes a fresh calendar of book releases to look out for. Chung Kiu Kwok shares a few of her most anticipated titles hitting shelves in the coming twelve months.

Books to buy in the first few months of 2019

A quick guide to the highly anticipated books coming out in 2019

Sequels and Spinoffs: serving commercial or creative interests?

What are the impacts of adding to a fictional universe?

‘A bit of Bah Humbug’: Christmas in Great Expectations

Dickens is the perfect post-Christmas antidote to anyone exhausted by the festive season

Beyond Juvenal: “who will guard the guardians?”

One line in Juvenal’s Satire VI finds itself reincarnated in countless modern pop culture references.

The Bookshelf: Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Villette’

In the first of our blog series on your favourite books and poems, Jenny Scoones finds the passionate love and faith in Bronte’s later, lesser-known novel to rival the author's more canonical works

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Books

Rory Stewart’s ‘Middleland: Dispatches from the Borders’ in review

Lost and found: The art of translation

How does an Oxford student read for fun?

Damaging detachment: Reflections on the Booker Prize

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