My top picks for engaging with Romanticism for somebody who has previously been bored by it. These texts are weird, in different genres, or written for modern audiences about Romanticism - in short, they’re not really the kind of thing you’d come across in school, or even university, really. I picked these to represent much of what there is to love about this style of writing and relating to art, so hopefully everybody will find something to enjoy among these suggestions.
Why Am I Rewriting Phantom of the Opera?
In re-writing Phantom of the Opera, I am trying to connect with a Sensibility that I found in the original, marrying modern writing practices with the emotion and tension of the original, and expanding Leroux’s seminal work into something a modern reader might enjoy more, but which also connects to the Romantic ideals of a past conception of literature.
The League of Gentlemen: Papa Lazarou and punching up
I want to investigate - coming from a place of love - how it came to be that League of Gentlemen had some, uh, Not OK jokes, how this might be changed, and what we can learn from the ideas articulated by and radiating from some of the more offensive jokes of the series - and from how beloved they always were.
All Quiet on the LRF, pt II: Life, Covid, and Approaching 30
I want to leave my 20s the person I wanted to be at the beginning of it.
Ten Dark Academia Reads to Match Your New Year’s Resolutions
Here's my reading list of ten dark academia books that will remind you to get into the library and get on with your goals - plus some runners-up.
‘In America’: A Met Gala Digest
Another instalment in my annual Met Gala digest.
Schrödinger’s Text Message
Relationships have been changing for years now. In an age of social media, people you were once close to update you in the same way they update their close friends and family. You know intimate details about their life, even when you haven't spoken in years, and it's no wonder that we don't know who our friends are or how we want our relationships to look.
Cycling in Europe / Learning to Cycle
A year ago, I could cycle, but I hadn't done so in two decades, and I'd certainly never done it in traffic - yesterday I cycled five miles through some of the busiest roads and junctions in the capital. How did I get here?
Maybe it’s time to split the job of being a professor?
I've been thinking about how higher education is structured, how we could fix the mess and potentially make the experience better for students and staff alike.
Understanding Indulgence: How To Care For Yourself
My conception of self-care is of two poles, servicing more of our emotions than frivolity or luxury by itself. The two forms of self-care are indulgence and moderation. These two are polar opposites, but in order to truly care for ourselves, we need to understand the role of indulgence and its effects on us, not blindly indulge.
Late Romantic 