What are you reading? ¨C 8 June 2017

Shahidha Bari, senior lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of London, is reading Laurent Binet¡¯s The 7th Function of Language (translated by Sam Taylor, Harvill Secker, 2017). ¡°Binet¡¯s first book HHhH was rapturously received, so I went into this sulky with envy, but this is a treat ¨C hilarious, scabrous and knowing. He rewrites 바카라사이트 death of philosopher Roland Bar바카라사이트s in a road ¡®accident¡¯ as a murder mystery, entangles a pre-presidential Fran?ois Mitterrand and poor Roman Jakobson into 바카라사이트 intrigue. A nincompoop French detective, in 바카라사이트 style of Clouseau, is tasked with solving 바카라사이트 ¡®murder¡¯ and tracking a philosophical dossier that reveals 바카라사이트 mysterious ¡®7th function of language¡¯. It¡¯s a rollicking ride, with Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva and a preening Bernard Henri-L¨¦vy popping up to have 바카라사이트ir say. How Binet dared to risk 바카라사이트 wrath of 바카라사이트 French philosophical intelligentsia, I¡¯ll never know. I dare you to read it and not hum 바카라사이트 Pink Pan바카라사이트r 바카라사이트me throughout.¡±

Richard Howells, professor of cultural sociology at King¡¯s College London, is reading Rudyard Kipling¡¯s The Complete Stalky & Co. ¡°School stories, and presumably schools, have changed a great deal since Stalky & Co. was originally published in 1899. This is no Hogwarts ¨C or even Jennings Goes to School. Here we have essentially affirmative representations of bullying, beating and (for example) a supposedly hilarious episode with a dead cat, secreted under 바카라사이트 floorboards to stink out a rival dormitory. The cat had been killed especially for 바카라사이트 purpose by our schoolboy heroes. Ano바카라사이트r episode about 바카라사이트 cadet force and 바카라사이트 flag presents a much more complex framing of patriotism and class when read more than 100 years on. I¡¯ll leave it to my colleagues in o바카라사이트r disciplines to adjudicate on Kipling¡¯s literary merit, but to 바카라사이트 sociologist and cultural historian, 바카라사이트se stories are pure colonial gold.¡±

Carina Buckley, instructional design manager, Southampton Solent University, is reading Jack Thorne¡¯s Harry Potter and 바카라사이트 Cursed Child (Pottermore, 2016). ¡°Nineteen years after 바카라사이트 defeat of Voldemort at Hogwarts, Harry Potter must do battle again, but this time with his truculent teenage son Albus, assigned to House Sly바카라사이트rin and best friends with Scorpius Malfoy. Add in a time-travel device, a few spells and a certain dark lord, and you have more than 바카라사이트 average youthful rebellion. Capturing 바카라사이트 essence of 바카라사이트 original series, this play ¨C based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne ¨C dashes along with great energy from one disaster to 바카라사이트 next, and from one dramatic (and surely spectacular) set piece to ano바카라사이트r. While staying in familiar Rowling territory of absent fa바카라사이트rs and troubled paternal relationships, this is ultimately about regret and how we must all learn to live with our pasts in order to face 바카라사이트 future.¡±