Fiction

Don Quixote is the best book out there on political theory, followed by Hamlet and Macbeth. There is no better way to understand the tragedy and the comedy of the Mexican political system than Hamlet, Macbeth and Don Quixote. They're much better than any column of political analysis.

Subcomandante Marcos

Tuesday, 11 October 2016 14:46

Animal Farm: a powerfully written allegory but an untruthful, gender-blind analysis

Written by Mary Vincent

in Fiction

Following her appearance on the In Our Time radio programme discussing Orwell's Animal Farm, Professor Mary Vincent reflects on its powerfully written but fundamentally untruthful and simplistic analysis of Soviet Russia, based on Orwell's mistaken interpretation of the Spanish Civil War and his blindness to gender issues. When I picked…

George Orwell Animal Farm In Our Time Spanish Civil War

Tuesday, 11 October 2016 14:43

Communism in the gunsights

Written by Graham Stevenson

in Fiction

Graham Stevenson reviews the recent In Our Time radio programme about George Orwell's Animal Farm. Melvyn Bragg's discursive radio series, In Our Time, recently considered Orwell's Animal Farm with comment from Steven Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English at the University of Cambridge, Mary Vincent, Professor of Modern European History…

George Orwell Animal Farm In Our Time Spanish Civil War

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 31 August 2016 09:38

The child colonisers: fanfiction and young people’s reading power

in Fiction

Written by Lucy Pearson

Dr. Lucy Pearson explores the radical potential of fanfiction for young readers and other marginalised groups, especially in a media environment which is still focused on the needs and desires of men. Children’s books are not written by children. At least, not usually: a glance at the children’s bestseller lists…

children's literature fanfiction

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 19 June 2016 14:43

Reactionaries and Revolutionaries: Classical Fairy Tales and Class

in Fiction

Written by Anne Duggan

Professor Anne Duggan explores the history of classical fairy tales and their double-sided relationship with class, whereby they both 'evade and compensate for a dire social reality', and outlines some reconceptions of fairy tales which can work as 'builders of communism'. Beginning in the 1980s with the seminal studies of…

fairytales Class cinderella puss in boots pied piper of hamelin

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 16 June 2016 15:50

Yours for the Revolution: the life of Jack London

in Fiction

Written by John Green

John Green introduces the life of Jack London. There is a hullabaloo around the quincentenary this year of Shakespeare’s death, but Jack London’s centenary appears to have been forgotten. Yet in his lifetime he became one of the world’s first celebrity writers, and is undoubtedly one of the great novelists…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 12 May 2016 16:25

Radical reading and radical writing: remaking children’s literature

in Fiction

Written by Kim Reynolds

Professor Kim Reynolds introduces radical children's literature, and says the time has come when children can become radical writers as well as radical readers. Many people think of writing for children and young people as little more than a training ground for readers; something you pass through on the way to…

Radical children's literature Radical readers Little Rebels Azzi in between I am Henry Finch

Monday, 09 May 2016 16:20

Short story: Snig

Written by Andy Croft

in Fiction

Snig was always losing things. One day he lost his hat. The next day he lost his umbrella. When he put things down, he forgot where he had put them. When he picked things up, he forgot to put them down. He was very forgetful. Sometimes Snig thought he had…

Friday, 29 January 2016 10:43

Book Review: Comrades Come Rally

Written by Ian Birchall

in Fiction

Ian Birchall reviews Phil Brett's novel, Comrades Come Rally, which imagines the development of a revolutionary situation in Britain. Three centuries ago Voltaire lamented that for every one person who read the philosopher Locke, there were a hundred reading Oriental romances. Voltaire’s response was to write Candide, an adventure story…

revolution Crime fiction

Wednesday, 27 January 2016 18:51

Keep Calm and Nostalgic

Written by Ross Bradshaw

in Fiction

Ross Bradshaw keeps calm while reviewing Owen Hatherley's latest book of essays on nostalgia. This set of essays starts with the well-known image, in Gill Sans type, with a crown at the top and plain lettering saying KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. This annoying slogan, Hatherley found, seemed to follow…

Nostalgia Lubetkin Housing

Friday, 22 January 2016 23:33

Murder, Mavericks and Marxism

Written by Phil Brett

in Fiction

Phil Brett looks analyses crime fiction from a socialist perspective. You don’t need to be a professor of English to know that crime fiction is very popular at the moment. Look at the W.H Smith top sellers for 2015 and you’ll find eleven out of the twenty are crime/thriller novels;…

Crime fiction