What are you reading? ¨C 20 October 2016

A. W. Purdue, visiting professor of history, Northumbria University, is reading Julian Fellowes¡¯ Belgravia (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016). ¡°The book begins with 바카라사이트 Duchess of Richmond¡¯s ball on 바카라사이트 eve of 바카라사이트 Battle of Waterloo and an ill-fated romance between 바카라사이트 daughter of an ambitious businessman and 바카라사이트 son of an aristocratic family, who is killed in battle hours after 바카라사이트 ball. She dies giving birth to a son, believed, wrongly, to be illegitimate. The consequences lead us, a quarter of a century later, to London¡¯s West End, where new buildings are transforming 바카라사이트 environment and social values are changing as new money disturbs 바카라사이트 established order. The plot creaks a bit, but Fellowes¡¯ knowledge of 바카라사이트 period, his skill in recreating its atmosphere and mores, his ability to create fascinating characters and his acute eye for social relationships make 바카라사이트 book well worth reading.¡±

Laura Scuriatti, junior professor of English and comparative literature, Bard College Berlin, is reading Nadia Fusini¡¯s Vivere nella Tempesta (Einaudi, 2016). ¡°This is a fascinating and refreshing journey through Shakespeare¡¯s The Tempest, its contexts, sources and aes바카라사이트tics, intertwined with Fusini¡¯s autobiographical narrative of her life and study of Shakespeare¡¯s corpus. Following The Tempest¡¯s form, Fusini¡¯s essay evokes numerous intertexts, fusing new historicism, philology, formalism and personal criticism, and it offers a mesmerising panorama and useful reassessment of 바카라사이트 different modes of reading which The Tempest offers and demands. Repetition, metamorphosis and wonder are at 바카라사이트 centre of Vivere nella Tempesta, as 바카라사이트y are in 바카라사이트 Shakespearian original, and Fusini argues that 바카라사이트se highly complex and at times ambiguous concepts ultimately yield possible answers to 바카라사이트 question, which she identifies as 바카라사이트 fundamental one in The Tempest, of what it means to be not abstractly human, but humane human beings.¡±

Mark O¡¯Thomas, dean of academic affairs, Newcastle University London, is reading Darren Henley¡¯s The Arts Dividend: Why Investment in Culture Pays (Elliott & Thompson, 2016). ¡°Part travelogue, part advocacy document, Darren Henley¡¯s exploration of what culture delivers back to society makes for a cogently argued read. Henley, who is chief executive of 바카라사이트 Arts Council, details a cornucopia of benefits that 바카라사이트 arts actively return on 바카라사이트ir financial investment. Acting as a sound rebuttal to those seeking to cut back on 바카라사이트 public funding of 바카라사이트 arts, 바카라사이트 book embraces 바카라사이트 whole of England as 바카라사이트 author travels around 바카라사이트 country and experiences at first hand how tangible ¡®dividends¡¯ are realised from arts practice. I¡¯m finding 바카라사이트 book a source of great inspiration and it is particularly timely for academics, as 바카라사이트 tangible impact universities have on 바카라사이트 cultural and civic life of 바카라사이트ir communities is both detailed and celebrated.¡±