#literarycriticism Timeline

Virginia Woolf put forward an enduring vision of women with the space and financial stability to write. But it’s also a sad vision—of isolated writers, cut off from peers or mentors.

by Joanna Scutts

https://newrepublic.com/article/206731/loneliness-room-one-virginia-woolf-hold-up

Virginia Wooldf at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89

#books #literature #literarycriticism

First edition cover of A Room of One's Own by Vanessa Bell..

The central image shows a clock on a stepped mantelpiece or plinth, framed within a dark arched alcove, bordered by a dotted semicircle and a decorative repeating pattern of small arches along the base.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ARoomOfOnesOwn.jpg

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162d

Can Bad People Write Good Books?

Can we still appreciate great novels when we know their author behaved despicably?

By Gina Dalfonzo

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/literature/can-bad-people-write-good-books

Little Dorit at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/963

#Books #Literature #LiteraryCriticism

The nigt.

Title: Little Dorrit

Author: Charles Dickens

The illustration depicts a dimly lit, opulent bedroom at night. The central focus is a figure collapsed or kneeling at the foot of a large canopied bed, slumped forward in a posture of grief, exhaustion, or despair. A classical nude statue on a pedestal to the left, set against what appears to be a framed painting or mirror showing a distant scene

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/963/963-h/images/0582.jpg

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159d

Zena Hitz: Gulliver's Travels and the Failures of Human Understanding

by Henry Oliver

https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/zena-hitz-gullivers-travels-and-the

Gulliver's Travels at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Gulliver%27s+Travels

#Books #Literature #LiteraryCriticism

"I LAY ALL THIS WHILE IN GREAT UNEASINESS"

Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World

by Jonathan Swift and edited by Thomas M. Balliet

Tiny soldiers swarm over and around the giant prone figure, planting flags and climbing him with ladders, while armies mass across the vast landscape beyond.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17157/pg17157-images.html

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127d

Ivy Compton-Burnett’s forgotten genius

by Nigel Andrew

The unique novels of Ivy Compton-Burnett have slipped out of the canon, but this true one-off deserves a place alongside contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ivy-compton-burnetts-forgotten-genius/

About Ivy Compton-Burnett:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Compton-Burnett

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

Ivy Compton-Burnett.

A black-and-white portrait photograph of a young woman with short, straight hair cut in a blunt fringe, wearing drop earrings and a dark top.

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124d

The unlikely pen pal who shaped Tolkien’s later years

When deaf fan Eileen Elgar wrote to the author with notes for improvement, they began a remarkable friendship based on a shared interest in language, revealed in a set of letters now up for auction

by Lily Isaacs

https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-unlikely-pen-pal-who-shaped-tolkiens-later-years

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

Photograph of J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1920s on leaving Leeds University.

A black-and-white portrait photograph of a young man with neatly combed short hair, wearing a tweed jacket and white collar, gazing thoughtfully to one side against a dark background.

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116d

A forgotten young poet gives us a rare glimpse below stairs at the 1995 Pride and Prejudice’s Netherfield Hall

by Catherine Clarke

https://theconversation.com/a-forgotten-young-poet-gives-us-a-rare-glimpse-below-stairs-at-the-1995-pride-and-prejudices-netherfield-hall-287329

More information about Mary Leapor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Leapor

#books #poetry #literaryCriticism

Title page, Poems Upon Several Occasions (1748) by Mary Leapor (1722-1746)

The title page of "Poems Upon Several Occasions" by Mrs. Leapor (Mary Leapor) of Brackley, Northamptonshire, printed in London by J. Roberts in 1748 (MDCCXLVIII), featuring an ornamental floral engraving between the author line and imprint.

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92d

Kafka's Screwball Tragedy: Investigations of a Philosophical Dog

"Investigations of a Dog" is a funny and deeply philosophical tale of a lone, maladjusted dog who defies scientific dogma and pioneers an original research program in pursuit of the mysteries of his self and his world.

By: Aaron Schuster (from the archives)

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/kafkas-screwball-tragedy-investigations-of-a-philosophical-dog/

Books by Kafka at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1735

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

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108d

Homer Haunted, by Henry Power

Splendid literary criticism, dull politics

by Henry Oliver

https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/homer-haunted-by-henry-power

The Iliad by Homer at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6130

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

This is an ornate vintage book cover for "Homer's Iliad," featuring decorative gold leaf swirl designs on a brown leather-textured background, with the title "ILIAD" displayed in an illuminated-style banner at the top.

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104d

Christopher Marlowe: alienated skeptic, government spy, counterfeiter, dead at 29. Shakespeare's debt to the man was simply inestimable.

By Brooke Allen

https://hudsonreview.com/2026/07/renaissance-men/

Books by Christopher Marlowe at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/410

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

Anonymous portrait, possibly of Marlowe, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Marlowe is shown with long, wavy auburn hair, a white ruffled collar, and an ornate black doublet with gold buttons and slashed orange-red decoration. The Latin motto "Quod me nutrit me destruit" ("That which nourishes me destroys me") appears in the upper left corner

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85d

Nothing is Boring. Arnold Bennett's Self Help

And reading advice from John Stuart Mill

by Henry Oliver

https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/nothing-is-boring-arnold-bennetts

Books by Arnold Bennett (including How to Live on 24 Hours a Day) at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/859

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

Bennett in 1928.

He is shown seated in what appears to be a study or office, wearing a suit with a mustache, hands clasped in his lap, with a desk covered in papers to his left.

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20d

What Critics Thought of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ When It Was Published in 1811

Even 15-year-old Princess Charlotte Augusta had an opinion on Austen's debut novel.

By Paul Anthony Jones

https://www.mentalfloss.com/literature/authors/what-critics-thought-sense-and-sensibility-when-published-1811

Sense and Sensibility at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/161

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

"I declare they are quite charming."

Title: Sense and Sensibility

Author: Jane Austen

Commentator: Austin Dobson

Illustrator: Hugh Thomson

A woman in a plumed hat stands gesturing, two women in bonnets sit close together on chairs, and a man reads a newspaper at left. A glazed cabinet and framed pictures fill the wall.

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49d

My new essay about Samuel Johnson

I am unashamed to call him a great man, to say that he is my hero. I can never write of him without strong feeling.

by Karen Swallow Prior and Henry Oliver

https://karenswallowprior.substack.com/p/samuel-johnson-a-writer-for-us-all

Books by Samuel Johnson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/297

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

Johnson (1775) showing his intense concentration and the weakness of his eyes; he did not want to be depicted as "Blinking Sam". This unique portrait showing his nearsightedness is in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

Johnson is shown reading intently, holding a bundle of papers close to his face—likely referencing his poor eyesight—wearing a burgundy velvet coat and powdered wig, set within an oval frame.

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62d

Brian Dillon on What Virginia Woolf’s The Waves Means to Him

“It is the first novel he has ever read that makes him consider seriously the form of a human life.”

https://lithub.com/brian-dillon-on-what-virginia-woolfs-the-waves-means-to-him/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_id=01M20AA4F2YEG9CRFVGZGWAQ3A&_kx=3MZUehzXM-41qlWAMPUiuNZadX2p0SByuNf_t0eMLB0.U5D8ER

Books by Virginia Woolf at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

First edition cover of the book "The Waves" by Virginia Woolf.

Original 1931 Hogarth Press first-edition cover of The Waves by Virginia Woolf. Olive-green woodcut design by Vanessa Bell shows abstract wave-like arcs and stylized floral/hand motifs on cream background, with title, author, and publisher in hand-lettered script.

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109d

Who was Homer, author of the Odyssey?

by Tom Hercules Davies

https://theconversation.com/who-was-homer-author-of-the-odyssey-287969

The Odyssey by Homer at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727

Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/348

#books #literature #literaryCriticism

This is a book cover for "Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica," featuring an image of an ancient Greek red-figure pottery design showing a ship with dolphins, set against a black background with the title in white text at top.

Title: Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica

Author: Hesiod

Translator: Hugh G. Evelyn-White

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13d

Gulliver’s Travels at 300: a satire of the Anglo-Irish and the folly of allegiance to empire

by Clíona Ó Gallchoir

Travel to England made Swift feel like an oppressed Irish colonial subject while at home he felt like a powerful civilising cog of that same empire.

https://theconversation.com/gullivers-travels-at-300-a-satire-of-the-anglo-irish-and-the-folly-of-allegiance-to-empire-295211?utm_campaign=the-daily-40115&utm_content=the-daily-40115_uk%7C2%7C40115%7C0547a0c9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=braze&utm_term=The+Conversation

We have this book in multiple editions and languages:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Gulliver%E2%80%99s+Travels

#books #literature #literaryCriticism #colonialism #irish_history

Gulliver Exhibited to the Brobdingnag Farmer (from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels) by Richard Redgrave.

A cracked oil painting of a tiny man in a red coat and white breeches, hand on hip, peering at a giant face with round spectacles that looms from the right. Enormous faces fill the dark background, with a bowl, bread, grapes and dice below.

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8d

The Spooky Saga of the Icelandic Dracula

Was a strange, long-lost translation of Dracula written by Bram Stoker himself?

by Willa Paskin

https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2026/10/dracula-bram-stoker-iceland-vampires-powers-of-darkness-translation-makt-myrkranna

Podcast:
https://shows.acast.com/696572d375c092ac4e159c27/6ae285865a3cc3c4c46cf4f2

Dracula at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/345

#books #literature #literaryCriticism #horror #gothic

Henry Irving is widely considered to have inspired Dracula.

John Bernard Partridge - The Lyceum "Faust." By Joseph Hatton ... with illustrations from drawings by W. Telbin, Hawes Craven, W. H. Margetson, J. Bernard Partridge, and Helen H. Hatton

Taken from "The Ilustrated London News"

A dramatic black-and-white engraving of a gaunt figure in medieval costume, a plumed cap, belted tunic, hose and flowing cloak. One arm is raised high and the other thrown out, his mouth open in alarm. He stands before a bare tree, a pale horizon and a moonlit, cloudy sky.

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32d

📚 Animal Farm by: George Orwell

This is a classic tale of humanity awash in totalitarianism. A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. First published during the epoch of Stalinist Russia, today it is clear that w...

https://bookblabla.com/book/animal-farm

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #literarycriticism #generalfiction #classics

This is a classic tale of humanity awash in totalitarianism. A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. First published during the epoch of Stalinist Russia, today it is clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, and under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of Orwell's masterpiece is a message still ferociously fresh.

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31d

📚 Eros the Bittersweet by: Anne Carson

A book about romantic love, Eros the Bittersweet is Anne Carson's exploration of the concept of "eros" in both classical philosophy and literature. Beginning with, "It was Sappho who first called eros 'bittersweet.' No one who has been in love disputes her," Carson examines her subject from numero...

https://bookblabla.com/book/eros-the-bittersweet

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #literarycriticism #subjectsthemes #general

A book about romantic love, Eros the Bittersweet is Anne Carson's exploration of the concept of "eros" in both classical philosophy and literature. Beginning with, "It was Sappho who first called eros 'bittersweet.' No one who has been in love disputes her," Carson examines her subject from numerous points of view, creating a lyrical meditation in the tradition of William Carlos Williams's Spring and All and William H. Gass's On Being Blue.

Epigrammatic, witty, ironic, and endlessly entertaining, Eros is an utterly original book.

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time

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