In the annals of British history, the year 1678 stands out as a time of unparalleled paranoia, where the English public was whipped into a frenzy over a fantastical and entirely fabricated threat: the Popish Plot. This elaborate tale, crafted by the masterful fabricator Titus Oates, involved a fictitious Catholic conspiracy to assassinate King Charles … Continue reading The Great Catholic Conspiracy: the 1678 Popish Plot
Tag: books
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth: A Perilous Slog Through Moral Terrain
Drop, drop, slow tears!And bathe those beauteous feet,Which brought from heavenThe news and Prince of peace.Cease not, wet eyes,For mercy to entreat:To cry for vengeanceSin doth never cease.In your deep floodsDrown all my faults and fears;Nor let His eyeSee sin, but through my tears. Phineas Fletcher At the heart of Ruth, published in 1853, is the tale … Continue reading Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth: A Perilous Slog Through Moral Terrain
Through the Peephole: Henri Barbusse’s The Inferno
Lately, I find myself immersed in a sea of existentialist musings, possibly reflecting my own melancholic state of mind and sombre outlook on life. And the work I'm about to detail is hard to pin down to exactly which literary genre this introspective fluff belongs to - Existentialist? Modernist? Philosophical Fiction? Psychological Fiction? Perhaps it … Continue reading Through the Peephole: Henri Barbusse’s The Inferno
A Not-So-Pan-tastic Review: Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan
Pan teaching his eromenos, the Shepherd Daphnis, to play his Pan flute. Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan is often hailed as a classic of horror literature, revered for its ability to induce existential dread and psychological unease. But let's face it: it’s also a tale that might make you chuckle at its melodrama, archaic … Continue reading A Not-So-Pan-tastic Review: Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan
The Razor’s Edge: A Fine Line Between Genius and the Mundane
Mundane is perhaps how I'd describe this post; it's been a strange and emotional day, with few cogs working. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge is a peculiar novel, one that teeters precariously on the fine line between profound existential inquiry and the sort of navel-gazing typically reserved for teenage diary entries. At the heart of … Continue reading The Razor’s Edge: A Fine Line Between Genius and the Mundane
Wording 