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Expand your knowledge with over 70 illuminating articles.

Explore a range of illuminating articles written by scholars, performers, curators and journalists.

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‘… [A]s much soul … and full as much heart’: Translation and Reception of the Brontë Sisters in China

This article tells the story of the Brontë sisters in China since the first translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1925. It charts the rise, fall and rise of their literary fortunes in China, where they are now read, studied and beloved as if they were the Chinese very own.

‘Man is not truly one, but truly two’: duality in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Curator Greg Buzwell considers duality in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, exploring how the novel engages with contemporary debates about evolution, degeneration, consciousness, homosexuality and criminal psychology.

‘Waking the Sleeping Books’: Bloomsbury and the Crescent Moon Group in China

This article discusses the striking parallels between the Bloomsbury Group and the Crescent Moon Group in terms of the historical background, aesthetic stance and relationship between art and politics; the prominent use of the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique is also considered.

‘What a joy it is to dance and sing!’: Angela Carter and Wise Children

Legitimacy and illegitimacy, high and low culture, north versus south London, everything in Wise Children has duality at its heart. Greg Buzwell examines Angela Carter’s last novel, the story of Dora and Nora Chance, the Hazard acting dynasty, and a life lived in the public gaze.

A Room with a View: class, conventions and the quest for clarity

Stephanie Forward describes some of the difficulties relating to plot and style that Forster experienced in writing his novel about overcoming conventions in the pursuit of authentic connection.

Jane Eyre and the 19th century woman

Professor Sally Shuttleworth explores how Charlotte Brontë challenges 19th-century conceptions of appropriate female behaviour through the creation of a heroine who works, demands respect and combines self-control with passion and rebellion.

Jane Eyre and the rebellious child

Drawing on children’s literature, educational texts and Charlotte Brontë’s own childhood experience, Professor Sally Shuttleworth looks at the passionate and defiant child of Jane Eyre.

Mrs Dalloway and the First World War

Mrs Dalloway, which takes place on one day in June 1923, shows how the First World War continued to affect those who had lived through it, five years after it ended. David Bradshaw explores the novel's commemoration of the dead and evocations of trauma and mourning.

Nicholas Nickleby and the Yorkshire schools

Since the 18th century, parents had been sending their children to notoriously brutal Yorkshire boarding schools. Here Professor John Sutherland examines the depiction of these schools in Charles Dickens’s ‘social problem novel’, Nicholas Nickleby.

Oliver Twist: depicting crime and poverty

In Oliver Twist, Dickens paints a vivid picture of London’s criminal underworld, a subject he harnesses both to excite the reader and to explore the effects of social deprivation. Professor John Bowen discusses these themes with reference to Dickens’s original manuscripts.

Oliver Twist and the workhouse

The hardships of the Victorian workhouse led Oliver Twist utter the famous phrase ‘Please Sir, I want some more’. Here Ruth Richardson explores Dickens’s own experiences of poverty and the social and political context in which he was writing.

The Pickwick Papers and the making of Charles Dickens

For the first 20 months of its extraordinary career, the book that the world now knows as The Pickwick Papers – the most popular work of British fiction in the 19th century, and a comic masterpiece that in a very real sense made its author’s name – did not look much like the imposing brick

800 years of Magna Carta

Over the centuries Magna Carta has influenced kings and statesmen, lawyers and lawmakers, prisoners, Chartists and Suffragettes. But how did this old piece of parchment become such a powerful symbol of our rights and freedoms?

A Child from Wuzhen: Mu Xin’s voyage to England

In 1994, Mu Xin travelled to England accompanied by his student, Mr Danqing Chen, now director of Mu Xin Art Museum. In this specially-comissioned article, Mr Chen reminisces about the good old days he spent with Mu Xin in England.

A close reading of ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’

Santanu Das examines the crafting of one of Owen’s most poignant poems, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, and shows how Owen’s war poems evoke the extreme sense-experience of the battlefield.

A Thousand and One Nights in England

On 6 June 1994, accompanied by his student Chen Danqing, Mu Xin began a three-week visit to England. This was Mu Xin’s only journey across the Atlantic, to which his literary response was ‘A Thousand and One Nights in England’, a draft which remained unfinished.

A Transnational Literary Friendship: Virginia Woolf and Ling Shuhua

Profressor Patricia Laurence explores the transnational literary relationship between Virginia Woolf and Ling Shuhua with references to the correpondences between these two great writers in the 1930s.

An introduction to The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest draws on elements of farce and melodrama in its depiction of a particular social world. Professor John Stokes considers how Oscar Wilde combined disparate influences into a brilliant satire which contained hidden, progressive sentiments.

An introduction to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Dr Seamus Perry describes the origins of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and considers how Coleridge uses the poem to explore ideas of sin, suffering and salvation.

Anthropomorphism in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is crammed with animals: a grinning cat, a talking rabbit, an enormous caterpillar and countless others. Dr Martin Dubois explores anthropomorphism and nonsense in Carroll’s novel, revealing the literary traditions that underpin it and those it inspired.

Byron and the Byronic hero: Translating Byron into Chinese

Kate Webb introduces Angela Carter's Wise Children, which uses Shakespeare, carnival and Hollywood to challenge distinctions between high and low culture and explore the relationship between energy and disorder.

Charles Booth’s poverty map of London

Victorian businessman Charles Booth set out to see if poverty levels were exaggerated - and found they were worse. His map shows the patchwork nature of the capital: poor and rich live side by side, much like today. Booth's work helped establish the old age pension, first paid on 1 Jan 1909.

Charles Dickens and the Victorian Christmas Feast

Simon Callow explores Charles Dickens’s depiction of the Christmas feast and investigates the origins of England’s festive culinary traditions.

Charlotte Brontë: mixing the familiar and the fantastic

In her writing as a child and as a young schoolteacher, Charlotte Brontë moved effortlessly between ordinary and imaginary worlds. Professor John Bowen explores how this dual existence made its way into her novel Jane Eyre.

Childhood in Jane Eyre

Professor John Bowen and Ann Dinsdale discuss the childhood writings and experiences of the Brontë sisters, exploring how these shaped their later writing in novels such as Jane Eyre. Filmed at the Brontë Parsonage, Haworth.

Cities in modernist literature

The alienated modernist self is a product of the big city rather than the countryside or small town. Katherine Mullin describes how an interest in the sensibility associated with the city – often London, but for James Joyce, Dublin – developed from the mid-19th century to the modernist period.

Crime in Oliver Twist

Dickens's Oliver Twist depicts the excitement as well as the danger surrounding the criminal underworld. Here Professor Philip Horne examines how Dickens’s portrayal of crime was influenced by public executions, contemporary criminal slang and other sensational literary works.

Daughters of decadence: the New Woman in the Victorian fin de siècle

Greg Buzwell explores the place of the New Woman – by turns comical, dangerous and inspirational – in journalism and in fiction by writers such as Thomas Hardy, George Gissing and Sarah Grand.

David Bowie

Drawing on science fiction, Japanese drama and Hollywood culture, among other influences, David Bowie performed a series of identities that challenged sexual and social conventions. Gavin Martin explores how Bowie's style has inspired musicians from the 1970s to the present day.

E M Forster’s gay fiction

Kate Symondson explores how Forster's sexuality shaped his writing and the long period during which he didn't publish anything at all.

Education in Victorian Britain

In an increasingly complicated world, the chances for an illiterate boy or girl were slim. In light of this, a number of day schools were established. These included the Ragged Schools, Parish Schools and Church Schools.

Exploring consciousness and the modern: an introduction to Mrs Dalloway

Elaine Showalter describes how, in Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf uses stream of consciousness to enter the minds of her characters and portray cultural and individual change in the period following the First World War.

Fairytale and realism in Jane Eyre

Dr Carol Atherton explores how Charlotte Brontë mixes fantasy with realism in Jane Eyre, making use of fairytale and myth and drawing on the imaginary worlds she and her siblings created as children.

Fantasy and fairytale in children’s literature

Professor M O Grenby explores the relationship between fantasy and morality in 18th and 19th-century children’s literature.

Female education, reading and Jane Austen

The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw fierce debates about the nature and purpose of women’s education. Professor Kathryn Sutherland assesses these debates and describes the education and reading practices of Jane Austen and her female characters.

First, rare and only sound recordings from the British Library’s collections

From the first melody produced by a computer, to the only recording of Florence Nightingale’s voice, and the last call of a Kauai O’o A’a. Harriet Roden explores the first, rare and only sound recordings housed by the British Library.

Foundlings, orphans and unmarried mothers

Ruth Richardson explores the world of poverty, high mortality, prejudice and charity that influenced the creation of Oliver Twist.

Freedom or oppression? The fear of dystopia

Mike Ashley considers how British, Russian and American writers created repressive imaginary worlds and totalitarian regimes in order to explore 20th-century political concerns.

From Phonautographs to Mp3s: A history of recording formats

How do you capture a sound, a thing that is unseen and immaterial?

From the Thames to the Yellow River: The Translation and Reception of English Literature in China

From the earliest Chinese translations in the mid-1800s to the latest renditions in the 21st century, this article outlines the reception of English literature in China and its dynamic impact on modern Chinese cultural and literary life.

From Tin-foil to Tango: Sound Recording and the Making of Popular Music

Dr Flora Willson explores the societal impacts of early music recording.

Gender roles in the 19th century

From marriage and sexuality to education and rights, Professor Kathryn Hughes looks at attitudes towards gender in 19th-century Britain.

Gothic motifs

What does it mean to say a text is Gothic? Professor John Bowen considers some of the best-known Gothic novels of the late 18th and 19th centuries, exploring the features they have in common, including marginal places, transitional time periods and the use of fear and manipulation.

History of the British Library’s Sound Archive

What is the sound archive, how did it start and why is it part of the British Library? Timothy Day explores the answers to these questions.

Incantations of Joy, Hope and Love: The Translation and Reception of Percy Bysshe Shelley in China

This article tells the story of the translation and the reception history of Percy Bysshe Shelley in China since he was first introduced to Chinese readers in 1902.

Jack the Ripper

The unidentified killer known as Jack the Ripper murdered a series of women in the Whitechapel area of London during 1888. Judith Flanders explores how the excitement and fear surrounding the mysterious murderer made its way into late-Victorian literature.

Jane Austen: social realism and the novel

Jane Austen fills her novels with ordinary people, places and events, in stark contrast to other novels of the time. Professor Kathryn Sutherland considers the function of social realism in Austen’s work.

Juliet’s eloquence

Over the course of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet goes from being a sheltered child to a young woman passionately in love. Penny Gay considers how this transformation, and its tragic consequences, are accompanied by Juliet's development as a poet.

Juvenile crime in the 19th century

Novels such as Oliver Twist have made Victorian child-thieves familiar to us, but to what extent did juvenile crime actually exist in the 19th century? Drawing on contemporary accounts and printed ephemera, Dr Matthew White uncovers the facts behind the fiction.

Landscapes of Oscar Wilde

To coincide with the Oscar Wilde event at Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Library collaborates with Hong Kong – Taiwan bi-city new media art team Dimension Plus on an exciting visual project - 'Landscapes of Oscar Wilde'.

Life of Oscar Wilde

From Wilde’s early success to the notorious trial and life in exile, Andrew Dickson explores the life and works of Oscar Wilde and his legacy today.

Looking at Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway

Professor Elaine Showalter explores modernity, consciousness, gender and time in Virginia Woolf’s ground-breaking work, Mrs Dalloway.

Lord Byron, 19th-century bad boy

Clara Drummond explains how Lord Byron’s politics, relationships and views on other poets led to his reputation of 19th-century bad boy.

Matthew Sweet on A Picture of Dorian Gray

Taking inspiration from the origins of Frankenstein, this dark and atmospheric clip is narrated by Matthew Sweet, and illustrates how the novel came about.

Matthew Sweet on Dracula

Un-earthing its literary origins, writer and historian Matthew Sweet uncovers the history of Dracula in this animated short for Penny Dreadful.

Matthew Sweet on Frankenstein

The first of three animated virals to promote the new Sky series 'Penny Dreadful', created at Beakus by director Gergely Wootsch.

Moral and instructive children’s literature

Professor M O Grenby looks at the ways in which children’s literature of the 18th and 19th centuries sought to improve its young readers, combining social and moral instruction with entertainment.

Orphans in fiction

Why do orphans appear so frequently in 19th-century fiction? Professor John Mullan reflects on the opportunities they provide for authors, considering some of the most famous examples of the period.

Oscar Wilde and Victorian Fashion

Irish poet and novelist Oscar Wilde was one of the most popular playwrights of the London stage in the early 1890s, and was well known for his bon mots that poked fun at high society. Fashion historian Amber Butchart explores his relationship with fashion.

Oscar Wilde: Curator’s pick

In this article, Alexandra Ault explores some of the original manuscripts created by Oscar Wilde, which bring us closer to his writing life.

Penny dreadfuls

The penny dreadful was a 19th-century publishing phenomenon. Judith Flanders explains what made these cheap, sensational, highly illustrated stories so popular with the Victorian public.

Perceptions of childhood

In the mid-18th century, childhood began to be viewed in a positive light, as a state of freedom and innocence. Professor Kimberley Reynolds explores how this new approach influenced 18th and 19th-century writers, some of whom wished they could preserve childhood indefinitely.

Presences in The Waste Land

T S Eliot's The Waste Land is full of references to other literary works. Seamus Perry takes a look at four of the most important literary presences in the poem: Shakespeare, Dante, James Joyce and William Blake.

Setting Shakespeare’s music – and the music of Shakespeare settings

Oliver Soden explores the challenges of creating operas based on Shakespeare’s plays.

Shakespeare’s life

From Stratford to London (and back again), from ‘upstart crow’ to 'wonder of our stage', Andrew Dickson recounts some of the details of William Shakespeare’s life.

Shakespeare’s London

Early modern London was an expanding metropolis filled with diverse life, from courtiers, merchants and artisans to prostitutes, beggars and cutpurses. Here Professor Eric Rasmussen and Ian DeJong describe the city that shaped Shakespeare's imagination.

Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous literary detective

Why has Sherlock Holmes continued to captivate readers generation after generation, while other fictional detectives of the Victorian period have been forgotten? To investigate, Professor John Sutherland explores shilling shockers, arch criminals, and forensic science.

Slums

Judith Flanders examines the state of housing for the 19th-century urban poor, assessing the ‘improvements’ carried out in slum areas and the efforts of writers, including Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew, to publicise such living conditions.

Sounds in The Waste Land: voices, rhythms, music

The Waste Land is crowded with voices and music, from ancient Hindu and Buddhist scripture to the popular songs of the 1920s. Katherine Mullin listens to the sounds of T S Eliot's poem.

Taste, place and colonialism in the global music industry

What type of music do you hear most on the radio? What genres are the most streamed on Spotify? Ammar Kalia explores the links between colonialism and the global music industry.

The campaign for women’s suffrage

Discover how suffrage campaigners of the 19th and 20th century secured women's right to vote in the UK. Who was involved in the campaign, what were they fighting for and what methods did they use?

The creation of the police and the rise of detective fiction

Judith Flanders explores how the creation of a unified Metropolitan Police force in 1829 led to the birth of the fictional detective.

The figure of the governess

From Jane Eyre to Vanity Fair, the governess is a familiar figure in Victorian literature. She is also a strange one: not part of the family, yet not quite an ordinary servant. Kathryn Hughes focuses on the role and status of the governess in 19th century society.

The Gothic

Professor John Bowen discusses key motifs in Gothic novels, including the uncanny, the sublime and the supernatural. Filmed at Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham.

The history of women’s football in the UK

Although women have likely played football for as long as the game has existed, in the UK there has long been resistance to women’s football. Explore the beginnings of the game and the efforts of women rallying for the right to play.

The Importance of Being Oscar Wilde: Rise and Fall of Wilde’s Literary Fortune in China

From the popular adaptations in the 1920s to the contemporary adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest in Beijing, 2015, it charts the rise, fall and rise of Oscar Wilde and his literary legacy in China.

The Industrial Revolution

In this article Matthew White explores the industrial revolution which changed the landscape and infrastructure of Britain forever.

The origins of A Christmas Carol

Professor John Sutherland considers how Dickens’s A Christmas Carol engages with Victorian attitudes towards poverty, labour and the Christmas spirit.

The Play’s The Thing

Penguin author Nancy Pellegrini discusses China's challenges in translating Shakespeare for performance, and the Royal Shakespeare Company's goal to create stage-friendly Shakespeare for Chinese theatre.

The race to record sound

Over 140 years ago, inventors across the globe busied themselves with trying to create a machine to capture soundwaves. Harriet Roden delves into the stories of the key players in the race to record sound.

The rise of cities in the 18th century

Cities expanded rapidly in 18th century Britain, with people flocking to them for work. Matthew White explores the impact on street life and living conditions in London and the expanding industrial cities of the North.

The Rise of Consumerism

With increasing variety in clothes, food and household items, shopping became an important cultural activity in the 18th century. Dr Matthew White describes buying and selling during the period, and explains the connection between many luxury goods and slave plantations in South America.

The Romantics

Dr Stephanie Forward explains the key ideas and influences of Romanticism, and considers their place in the work of writers including Wordsworth, Blake, P B Shelley and Keats.

The violence of Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is not only a love story. Andrew Dickson describes how the play reflects the violence and chaos of Shakespearean London – and how, more recently, directors have used it to explore conflicts of their own time.

Theatre in the 19th century

At the beginning of the 19th century, there were only two main theatres in London. Emeritus Professor Jacky Bratton traces the development of theatre throughout the century, exploring the proliferation of venues, forms and writers.

Tom and Jerry’s Life in London

The Gentle Author explores Pierce Egan’s 19th-century bestseller, Life in London, in which Tom and Jerry's 'rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis' offer readers a unique glimpse into both high and low urban culture.

Too much suicide?

Narratives of Virginia Woolf’s life often place great emphasis on her depression and suicide. Lyndall Gordon considers the way this has overshadowed Woolf’s legacy, and clouded her reputation as a seminal novelist, feminist, and politicized intellectual.

Understanding Alice

Professor Kimberley Reynolds explores how Lewis Carroll transformed logic, literary traditions and ideas about childhood into the superbly inventive and irreverent Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Virginia Woolf’s London

Virginia Woolf loved London, and her novel Mrs Dalloway famously begins with Clarissa Dalloway walking through the city. David Bradshaw investigates how the excitement, beauty and inequalities of London influenced Woolf's writing.

What is Magna Carta?

Narrated by Monty Python’s Terry Jones, this animation takes you back to medieval England to explore the tyranny of King John, the frustrations of the barons and the significance of the charter’s original clauses.

William Blake and 18th-century children’s literature

Julian Walker looks at William Blake’s poetry in the context of 18th-century children’s literature, considering how the poems’ attitudes towards childhood challenge traditional ideas about moral education during that period.

William Blake’s printing process

Michael Phillips demonstrates William Blake’s printing process, explaining how it relates to his work as a poet and artist. Filmed at Morley College, London.

Women writers, anonymity and pseudonyms

Greg Buzwell explores the barriers and the lengths that women authors went to in order to publish their work.

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