Departmental news

One of our students who completed the BA and MA in English Literature appears on The Verb to discuss her Edinburgh show, Elsa. The show was inspired by her MA module, 'Poetry and Music', and dissertation on song. Listen from about 17.00 for Isobel.

A labour of love by a Kenilworth historian has won the praise of a former prime minister. Emeritus Reader, Dr Fred Reid, former head of the History Department at Warwick University, has just seen the publication of his book Thomas Hardy and History, which he has been working on for two decades, and ex-prime minister Gordon Brown was quick to send his congratulations to Dr Reid on his achievement.

Read the full story on the Coventry Observer website.

Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada, translated from German by American translator Susan Bernofsky and published by Portobello Books, has been announced as the winner of the inaugural Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/warwick_announces_the

Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada, translated from German by American translator Susan Bernofsky and published by Portobello Books, has been announced as the winner of the inaugural Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/warwick_announces_the

The Global History and Culture Centre has started a new blog. Read the first post, "Jeremy Adelman, ‘What is Global History Now’ – Global History Reading Group", posted today, Wednesday 8th November 2017.

James Poskett reviews Illuminating India at the Science Museum

Read about the Science Museum’s new exhibition, Illuminating India, reviewed by Dr James Poskett (Assistant Professor in the History of Science and Technology).

‘Five millennia of Indian science’, Nature, 18 October 2017

Dr James Poskett celebrates the long history of science in India, from ancient astronomical almanacs to the discovery of the Boson.

The competition received a total of 58 eligible entries of which 16 titles made the initial longlist. The shortlist comprises a novel, a novella, a children’s book, a collection of poetry and a volume of short stories. The source languages represented are Polish and German, with two shortlisted titles apiece, as well as Irish and Russian.

The full list of shortlisted titles is as follows: 

- Second-hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich, translated from Russian by Bela Sheyavich (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2016)

- Swallow Summer by Larissa Boehning, translated from German by Lyn Marven (Comma Press, 2016)

- Clementine Loves Red by Krystyna Boglar, translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones and Zosia Krasodomska-Jones (Pushkin Children’s Books, 2016)

- The Coast Road by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, translated from Irish by Michael Coady, Peter Fallon, Tom French, Alan Gillis, Vona Groarke, John McAuliffe, Medbh McGuckian, Paul Muldoon, Michelle O’Sullivan, Justin Quinn, Billy Ramsell, Peter Sirr and David Wheatley (The Gallery Press, 2016)

- Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg, translated from Polish by Eliza Marciniak (Portobello Books, 2017)

- Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada, translated from German by Susan Bernofsky (Portobello Books, 2016)

Click here for more information on the Prize for Women in Translation and Translation at Warwick.

 
Over a century ago, Dickens said it was cruel, wrong and “tampered with the brain”. So why is solitary confinement still allowed?

Read the article by Kirstie Brewer in Prospect magazine, as informed by an interview with Professor Hilary Marland who co-leads a five-year research project into the history of prison health in England and Ireland and recently gave historical evidence to Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into Mental Health and Deaths in Prison. The project forms the basis of a new play: Disorder Contained, a theatrical examination of madness, prison and solitary confinement. The play moves to London on 9-10 October.

Department colleague Dr. Chantal Wright has been discussing the under-representaton of women in translation, and how the inaugural Warwick Prize for Women in Translation is trying to address it. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/31/lost-to-translation-how-english-readers-miss-out-on-foreign-women-writers

The history of luxury – from Roman villas to Russian oligarchs – is explored in a new book written by Peter McNeil and Giorgio Riello. A story of extravagance, excess and indulgence, Luxury: A Rich History considers how opulence has developed from antiquity to the 21st century.

In an article for History Extra, Riello focuses on the history of American wealth, revealing how American fortunes bankrolled the 19th-century British aristocracy. Read the full article on the History Extra website.