Ancient Politics

The publication of Paul Cartledge’s Ancient Greek Political Thought in Practice reflects a wave of interest in classical political thought, which in 2009, has also seen two companion volumes published, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought, edited by Stephen Salkever, and Blackwell’s A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought, edited by Ryan [...]

The Great British Fairytale

In National Dreams: The Remaking of Fairy Tales in Nineteenth-Century England, Jennifer Schacker boldly claims that the England of the nineteenth century had no real fairy tales of its own and so had to depend on the collections of folk and fairy tales passed on to them from other nations. Recognizing the political and economic [...]

On the Origin of Stories

“Evolution may help explain copulation and even cooperation, but can it account for the creative side of human life? Can it explain art?” (69). This is the main issue concerning Brian Boyd’s mammoth book On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition and Fiction (2009). For those of us concerned with art and the creative process [...]

Performing Dark Arts

Performing Dark Arts: A Cultural History of Conjuring is a remarkable read for two very important reasons. First, it tackles with relish a topic that has fascinated mankind throughout the annals of history, namely the art of conjuring. This skill of deception and performance flair, when performed with respect and skill, has been both a [...]

Open Wide a Wilderness

In a current social climate of environmental end-times panic, literary interest in the natural world is resurfacing. After embracing and then rejecting Margaret Atwood’s famous thesis that the central theme of Canadian writing is survival (especially against our terrifying natural landscape), Canadian Literature is returning to its roots, literally and metaphorically.

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