We’re in the midst of Trinity Term, and we know lots of you are either up to your eyeballs in assessments or you’ve just finished them. Either way, we’ve decided this month to bring you a selection of books that are (for the most part) either delightful distractions or restful and relaxing. To see our full selection of shiny new books, head on our to the English Faculty Library’s LibraryThing page.
Marina Warner. Inventory of a Life Mislaid: An Unreliable Memoir. 2021.
In this book, Marina Warner tells the story of her mother and father, of an international marriage, and of a relationship that crosses Italy, England, and Cairo – through separation, war, and uprisings. What makes this story all the more remarkable is that it is pieced together from fragments of letters, diaries, film negatives, gifts, and mementoes – scraps of a life recovered between memory and myth. It battles with social differences, cultural influence, and the dangers of assumed privilege and power.
Purchased through the E. H. W. Meyerstein bequest grant.
Peter Davidson. The Lighted Window: Evening Walks Remembered. 2021.
The image of the lighted window is one popular throughout art, literature, and music. Davidson explores some examples of this concept – Virginia Woolf, Samuel Palmer, Edward Hopper, etc. – and blends them with place writing, memoir, and artwork to produce a book that is just perfect to read of an evening, in a lighted window. The books spans Britain, Europe, and North America, from cities to the countryside, but starts in a familiar library in Oxford…
Purchased through the E. H. W. Meyerstein bequest grant.
Michael Kalisch. The Politics of Male Friendship in Contemporary American Fiction. 2021.
A slightly more academic suggestion here… How much does our representation of male friendship in the American novel reflect ideas of democracy, national identity, and the history of sexuality? Kalisch’s book aims to examine this question through the lens of literature, philosophy, and sociology, dipping into the ideas of late twentieth-century communitarian debates on citizenship. To do so, Michael Kalisch draws on the work of Philip Roth, Dinaw Mengestu, and Teju Cole, among others.
Purchased through the E. H. W. Meyerstein bequest grant.
Chris Kraus. After Kathy Acker: A Biography. 2017.
Kathy Acker is a renowned writer of unique, transgressive, and postmodern poems, plays, and essays. She’s known for exploring rebellion, sexuality, and trauma in her work. Here, Kraus has transposed her wild life to a clever biography that celebrates her rebellious spirit, self-mythologising style, and counter-cultural stardom. Not only does Kraus rejoice in Acker’s life, but she treats her work with the respect and seriousness it deserves as boundary-pushing art.
Purchased through the E. H. W. Meyerstein bequest grant.
Michael Adams. From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages. 2011.
Those of you who caught our fantasy fiction display back in Hilary term will know that there’s at least one Tolkien fan in the EFL staff – so join us and indulge your nerdy philologist with this delightful book on invented languages! But don’t worry if Tolkien’s not your cup of tea, this insightful book looks at a range of languages from Klingon to Esperanto, from Newspeak to Simlish. But Adams doesn’t only examine how these languages are created, but why they’re made, and what they say about the wider society within which they exist.