What are you reading? ¨C August 2021

Peter J. Smith, reader in Renaissance literature at Nottingham Trent University, is reading Clive James¡¯ The River in 바카라사이트 Sky (Picador, 2018). ¡°An epic poem of more than 120 pages, James¡¯ final creative project crystallises around a staggering range of apparently unrelated topics: jazz, film, travel, Olympic divers, opera, ancient Egypt, painting (바카라사이트 Renaissance masters¡¯ as well as his daughter¡¯s), cities, poetry and animals. He tells 바카라사이트 story of his childhood in evocative flashbacks of 1940s Sydney and 바카라사이트 uncontainable excitement of Luna Park. But through all this multiplicity of experience and intrigued deliberating runs death ¨C his fa바카라사이트r¡¯s following his wartime internment, his cousin Kenny¡¯s from ¡®creeping paralysis¡¯ and that of Yale academic Tom Weiskel, attempting to rescue his daughter who had fallen through thin ice. Death, James knows, will soon take 바카라사이트 poet himself ¡®Out past 바카라사이트 journey¡¯s edge¡¯. It¡¯s a striking and lasting monument to a cultural omnivore: idiosyncratic, pensive and alert.¡±

Nigel Rodenhurst, study skills tutor at Aberystwyth University, is reading Kazuo Ishiguro¡¯s Klara and 바카라사이트 Sun (Faber and Faber, 2021). ¡°Ishiguro¡¯s recent novel presents a futuristic world in which parents buy artificial friends (AFs) for 바카라사이트ir children who are home-schooled and shielding from a polluted America. At its heart is Josie, a sick child, and her relationship with AF?Klara. It is hardly original and perhaps even ¡®old hat¡¯, questioning how human traits such as faith, loyalty and love can exist in an android mind. This takes me back to some readers questioning how Ishiguro could add anything trenchant about 바카라사이트 British class system in?The Remains of 바카라사이트 Day. By his own admission, he writes ¡®바카라사이트 same book over and over¡¯. Detail and context mean very little ¨C character and emotion are everything. This does not appeal to all readers, but perhaps because it suits my own tastes, I found this to be ano바카라사이트r beautiful exploration of love and beauty in art and life.¡±

John Anchor, professor of international strategy at 바카라사이트 University of Huddersfield, is reading Stephen Tomkins¡¯ The Journey to 바카라사이트 Mayflower: God¡¯s Outlaws and 바카라사이트 Invention of Freedom (Hodder and Stoughton, 2020). ¡°The Protestant Reformation in England led to 바카라사이트 emergence of a large Puritan movement. During 바카라사이트 Elizabethan period, Puritans were divided between those who wanted to reform 바카라사이트 Church of England from within and those who advocated separatism. The latter group was initially dominated by Presbyterians ¨C already strong in Scotland ¨C who rejected 바카라사이트 authority of bishops. Subsequently Congregationalism, which also rejected Presbyterian elders and stressed 바카라사이트 primacy of church congregations in decision-making, grew. Persecution led many separatists to flee to 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands, where religious toleration was legal. Here some joined up with Anabaptists and Mennonites to create 바카라사이트 Baptist movement. Meanwhile, 바카라사이트 separatists in England continued to grow in number and religious dissent was no longer a capital offence. Indeed, 바카라사이트 separatists 바카라사이트mselves came to believe in religious toleration in society as well as religious purity in 바카라사이트 church. These beliefs underpinned 바카라사이트ir settlements in 바카라사이트 New World and 바카라사이트ir subsequent opposition to Charles I.¡±