Literature Archives

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.

Magdalen Fellow wins 2025 Banipal Prize for Arabic translation

Professor Marilyn Booth, a Magdalen College Emeritus Fellow, has won the 2025 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic literary translation for her translation of...

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.

Dear Reader,

It has been so long since last I felt your fingertips tracing my pages, cascading shivers across my spine. I have missed your smile, and the way your...

Running on treadmills: Milan Kundera’s meditations on Slowness

Sometimes it takes a new word to express an old feeling. Until the age of around fourteen I spent many of my evenings brokering...

Periodisation and the problem of now

Periodisation is the act of dividing literature into eras like Romanticism, Modernism, or Postmodernism – neat, bounded categories based on unifying characteristics, themes, or historical...

In the Beginning

I was alone with the earth and the sun before youcame along: there was no life, no song, not even words.My hope had been...

Shashi Tharoor, UN diplomat, novelist, politician, and historian, speaks to Cherwell about his work and career

Dr Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician, writer, and former diplomat. He has written twenty-six books spanning history, politics, biography, religion, literary criticism, fiction,...

Has Oxford made us hate reading?

"Ever felt like you were suffocating under a pile of books, making the idea of picking up yet another feel utterly daunting?"

P.G. Wodehouse’s Ukridge at 100

It is unfortunate that P.G. Wodehouse's reputation in Oxford takes such a blow from his being a popular favourite among OUCA members. Still, he...

Lost in translation?

As someone who is half Japanese, I’ve become accustomed to reading literature in different languages. Some books I’ve enjoyed so much that I’ve read...

War, Peace and Writing

Throughout history, art has left an indelible cultural impact on humanity’s collective understanding of war. Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ is perhaps the most famous manifestation of...

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Oliver Twist, a Sceptical 9th Grader, and an Orthodox Monastery: The Making of a New Generation in Northern Kosovo

Eager hands reach toward the ceiling as children at the Ismail Qemali school in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, desperately try to attract the attention of...

Literary Red Flags: Cause for Alarm?

"The internet loves to tell us what to do, especially when there's a healthy smattering of pseudo-psychology involved."

Tag: Literature