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Culture

Essays and videos on the arts, literature, travel, rituals and celebrations
Photo of a person wearing large sunglasses with outdoor scenery reflected, resting their fingers on their chin in a thoughtful pose.

essay

Ethics

Main character syndrome

Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love

Anna Gotlib

Photo of a doll with curly red hair, blue eyes, and a large maroon hat, wearing a double string of pearls and a red dress.

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Rituals and celebrations

Tender, yet creepy

Dolls help children create wonderfully vivid and imaginative worlds, while also serving as unsettling reminders of the abyss

Tishani Doshi

Painting of a rural street on a dark night featuring a two-storey white farmhouse, a red barn, powerlines, and a bright light in the centre.

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Sleep and dreams

Spinning the night self

After years of insomnia, I threw off the effort to sleep and embraced the peculiar openness I found in the darkest hours

Annabel Abbs

A walking figure made of black shapes, with a pink ticket for “The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy as its body, on a yellow background.

video

Meaning and the good life

‘Everydayness is the enemy’ – excerpts from the existentialist novel ‘The Moviegoer’

2 minutes

Still life with musical instruments, sheet music, books, and a small statue on a table draped with a richly patterned red and gold curtain.

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Music

A novel kind of music

So-called ‘classical’ music was as revolutionary as the modern novel in its storytelling, harmony and depth

Joel Sandelson

Silhouette of a soldier with glowing eyes and helmet, holding a rifle, with a blurred, colourful background.

video

War and peace

A century later, can poetry help us make sense of the First World War’s horrors?

9 minutes

Intricate artwork of robed women with long, flowing hair in a forest, surrounding a glowing, veiled woman adorned with flowers.

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Beauty and aesthetics

All aquiver

The Decadent movement taught that you should live your life with the greatest intensity – a dangerous and thrilling challenge

Kate Hext

Sepia photograph of the poet with long curly hair and a full beard and moustache. He wears a white shirt and dark suit, and has a thoughtful expression.

video

Stories and literature

To capture grief in poetry is to describe the ineffable. Here’s why Tennyson did it best

8 minutes

A colourful, abstract image featuring a large, black and white bird in flight. The background is a swirling mix of purple, orange, and yellow hues. A small figure of a child walks in the distance, casting a long shadow.

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Ageing and death

Peregrinations of grief

A friend and a falcon went missing. In pain, I turned to ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ – and found a new vision of sorrow and time

Emily Polk

Medieval manuscript illustration of a dragon with a red head, green and blue wings, and a snake-like tail, standing on a hill. The dragon is bordered by a decorative green frame with circular patterns and a blue border with white rings. The background features golden leaf motifs.

video

Animals and humans

Why be dragons? How massive, reptilian beasts entered our collective imagination

58 minutes

A historical painting of a woman in a detailed blue and silver gown with lace sleeves. She wears a pearl necklace and a hat adorned with white and pink flowers. The background features a golden tapestry and dark pillars.

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Stories and literature

Her blazing world

Margaret Cavendish’s boldness and bravery set 17th-century society alight, but is she a feminist poster-girl for our times?

Francesca Peacock

Illustration of soldiers in action, with one leading the charge and another crawling forward. Both wear military uniforms with helmets and carry rifles. The background is a vibrant red, enhancing the sense of urgency and movement.

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Stories and literature

On Jewish revenge

What might a people, subjected to unspeakable historical suffering, think about the ethics of vengeance once in power?

Shachar Pinsker

A serene landscape of snowy trees and hills set against a backdrop of a yellow sky and blue mountain range, with a bird flying by.

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Stories and literature

Robert Frost’s poetic reflection on youth, as read in his unforgettable baritone

5 minutes

Two men sit talking on a wooden beam by a dock. One is in jeans, the other wears a coat and holds a small item. A cargo ship, a bridge and a warehouse are in the background.

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Stories and literature

Do liberal arts liberate?

In Jack London’s novel, Martin Eden personifies debates still raging over the role and purpose of education in American life

Nick Romeo

A dark, hazy scene of a figure in a top hat walking near a building with large columns. The background features a dimly lit path alongside water, with street lamps illuminating the night. The setting appears lonely and atmospheric, with distant hills visible under an overcast sky.

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Stories and literature

Terrifying vistas of reality

H P Lovecraft, the master of cosmic horror stories, was a philosopher who believed in the total insignificance of humanity

Sam Woodward

A sepia photograph of a woman from the 19th century, sitting on an ornate wooden chair, wearing a ruffled dress with buttons.

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Stories and literature

The real Miss Julie

Victoria Benedictsson assumed a male identity, achieved literary stardom, and took her own life. Then Strindberg stole it

Elisabeth Åsbrink

A colourful book illustration of a weary traveller in a forest being awoken by a peacock tugging at his sleeve

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Comparative philosophy

Folklore is philosophy

Both folktales and formal philosophy unsettle us into thinking anew about our cherished values and views of the world

Abigail Tulenko

Person holding a painting of Jesus Christ amid a rubble-strewn landscape with damaged buildings and trees in the background.

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Religion

There was no Jesus

How could a cult leader draw crowds, inspire devotion and die by crucifixion, yet leave no mark in contemporary records?

Gavin Evans

A smiling young girl and a cat, nose to nose, by a window sill, with pinecones beside them

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Stories and literature

The best stories smell

When scents are used to intensify a narrative, they heighten young readers’ emotions and enrich their memory banks

Natalia Kucirkova

Surreal artwork of a human head. The top section contains an open book and clouds, the bottom section has deep water with sharks, all set in an abstract background.

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Stories and literature

Saved by Infinite Jest

Bereft and suicidal, I lay on my sofa. Only David Foster Wallace’s novel kept me tethered to life, and still does

Mala Chatterjee

Three motorcyclists are riding on an empty road winding through English moorland beneath a blue sky

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Stories and literature

Citizens

Devon, 1970s: I’m a rector’s son, hanging out with Boz the biker. My life is about to open up – what does it promise for him?

Tim Pears

Watercolour painting of a deer with antlers incorporating tree branches and fruit, standing on its hind legs in a lush forest.

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Stories and literature

A French Creole folktale nearly lost to time is given new, gorgeously animated life

6 minutes

A person in a pink shirt reading in a store, surrounded by shelves of bottled water, olive oil, and other products. A Tropic Fanta bottle is in the foreground.

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Mood and emotion

Moments of poetry pierce through the mundane at a small-town grocery

13 minutes

Medieval manuscript illustration of a man gesturing towards two red and black snakes, with Greek text above and below the images, on a faded parchment background.

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Stories and literature

Vergil’s secret message

Long derided as mere coincidences, acrostics in ancient poetry are finally being taken seriously – with astonishing results

Julia Hejduk