Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: English literature

English literature stories: 11 news summaries

 Letters Reveal 
 Byron's Feud 
 With 'Turdsworth' 

Unpublished correspondence up for sale

Sep 28, 09 8:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - A collection of letters written by Lord Byron to a clergyman, some of them unpublished, sheds new light on the Romantic poet—who discloses his sexual escapades with servants and angry opinions of fellow writers. Several letters refer to a serving girl whom he took as his mistress; he dumped... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Sotheby's • literature • letters • poetry • English literature • correspondence

 Coetzee Leads 
 Heavy-Hitting 
 Booker Prize 
 Shortlist 

Veterans outpace first-timers for prestigious literary gong

Sep 8, 09 6:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - JM Coetzee may become the first author to win the Man Booker Prize three times after his fictionalized memoir Summertime made the prestigious literary award's shortlist today. The South African writer's new book takes the form of interviews by a biographer writing about "the late author John Coetzee."... More »

MORE ABOUT:
literature • awards • English literature • Booker Prize • prize

The Not-So-Bookish
Savor Twit Lit


May 12, 09 8:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Consumers short on time and even shorter on attention spans are turning to 140-character summaries of Great Books on Twitter, reports the Telegraph. Classics have been "distilled" into prose Twitterers can read in the time it takes to sneeze. Waiting for Godot? No problem: "Vladimir and Estragon... More »

MORE ABOUT:
English literature • Samuel Beckett • Twitter • classics • tweet • Lady Chatterly's Lover • DH Lawrence • Jay-ZTV

Sylvia Plath's Son Commits Suicide

46 years after she killed herself, Nicholas Hughes hangs himself

Mar 23, 09 9:02 AM CDT
(Newser) - The son of writers Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes committed suicide last week, hanging himself at his home in Fairbanks, Alaska, following a battle with depression, reports the Times of London. Nicholas Hughes, 47, was a professor of fisheries and ocean sciences but had recently left his position to take... More »

MORE ABOUT:
suicide • Alaska • literature • poetry • English literature • Sylvia Plath • Ted Hughes

Ian McEwan: I Sheltered Rushdie After 1989 Fatwa

Novelist reveals how he protected his friend

Feb 16, 09 7:55 AM CST
(Newser) - Twenty years after the Iranian leadership declared a death sentence on Salman Rushdie, fellow novelist Ian McEwan reveals that he sheltered the writer in a house in the English countryside. In a long profile of McEwan in the New Yorker, the novelist describes how the pair listened to news of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
literature • Salman Rushdie • Satanic Verses • fatwa • Islamic extremism • English literature • Ian McEwan

 Psychologists: 
 Victorian Novels 
 Helped Us Evolve 

Victorian literature upheld cooperation, personal sacrifice

Jan 14, 09 6:07 PM CST
(Newser) - Victorian novels didn't just tout moralistic values of 19th-century British society, they helped altruistic genes flourish, a study claims. Evolutionary psychologists say classic characters such as Mr. Darcy and Count Dracula helped instill and promote a sense of right and wrong in society, the Guardian reports, specifically the notion that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Dracula • culture • English literature • Britain • society • morality • greed • progress • Victorian novel • classics • Pride and Prejudice • Middlemarch • Wuthering Heights

Jane Austen Museum Bans Fans' Ashes

Devotees were using her garden as their
final resting place

Dec 3, 08 6:10 PM CST
(Newser) - The caretakers of Jane Austen's estate in England have issued an unusual plea to her devoted fans: Please stop having your ashes scattered in her garden. Museum representatives say they understand the passion but can't allow the practice. “It is distressing for visitors to see mounds of human ash,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
England • literature • museums • English literature • fans • Jane Austen • ashes

 Cambridge
 Poetry
 Students
 Analyze This 

Notorious partier-songwriter's lyrics compared to 16th Century poem

May 27, 08 2:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - Stodgy? Never! Cambridge University surprised its English students with an exam requesting literary analysis of Amy Winehouse lyrics last week. Students compared a poem by 16th century poet and ne’er-do-well adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh with Winehouse’s “Love is a Losing Game,” and songs by Bob Dylan... More »

MORE ABOUT:
poetry • Amy Winehouse • English literature • Cambridge University • Sir Walter Raleigh

 JK Rowling Considered Suicide 

Harry Potter author discusses depression during mid-20s

Mar 23, 08 10:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - Before Harry Potter came along, his creator was broke, recently divorced, depressed, and near suicide, reports the Times of London. JK Rowling was a mom in her mid-20s, living in a cramped apartment paid for by a friend when she sought professional help. “We’re talking suicidal thoughts here,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Harry Potter • suicide • depression • JK Rowling • billionaire • English literature • Harry Potter Lexicon

Fake-speare: Scholar Says Bard Portrait
Is a Phony

400-year-old painting was swapped, she says

Oct 25, 07 1:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - A famous portrait of Shakespeare owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company is a fake—a 19th-century imitation that replaced the older original sometime in the past decade, a German scholar claimed yesterday. “Where is the priceless 400-year-old original 'Flower' portrait?” she asks, saying that the painting appears different this... More »

MORE ABOUT:
painting • English literature • William Shakespeare • Royal Shakespeare Company • National Gallery

Lit Hits the Fan as UK Publishing Feud Heats up

Spate of literary agent resignations has  industry reeling

Sep 22, 07 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - The upper rungs of British publishing are reeling in disrepair, after a handful of high-end agents resigned over the last month. At the center of the storm is Pat Kavanagh, wife of Julian Barnes, who left her post at a revered agency after plans for a major buyout went south.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
England • publishing • English literature

11 Stories


from our news partners