Category Archives: Literature

Why My Favourite Classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, Turns Out to be Racist

            Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that deals with the inequality, prejudice and ignorance that black people faced in the South in the 1930s. It’s widely been regarded as an exemplary anti-racist text; however, the contrary is true, as is shown by recent criticism. I will hereby analyze how, by taking onContinue reading “Why My Favourite Classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, Turns Out to be Racist”

Lady Macbeth Is Not Evil; You Guys Are Just Sexist

A Psychoanalytic and Feminist Look into One of Literature’s Most (In)famous Women Focusing on the character of Lady Macbeth provides an in-depth analysis of how Shakespeare uses the limitations of traditional gender roles to create conflict within Macbeth (1606). The murder of King Duncan serves as a turning point for the play: prior to thisContinue reading “Lady Macbeth Is Not Evil; You Guys Are Just Sexist”

Analysis of Patrick Bateman through Marxist and Psychoanalytic Perspectives

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis is a masterfully crafted satire that immerses its reader into the disgustingly immoral lifestyle of 1980s Wall Street men. Its clever criticisms of capitalism is one of the reasons it has earned much acclaim throughout the years. In this essay I will be using Psychoanalytic and Marxist perspectives inContinue reading “Analysis of Patrick Bateman through Marxist and Psychoanalytic Perspectives”

Romanian Nostalgia – Lyrical Edition

My last article was a confession of the overwhelming nostalgia that I felt while being away from home for so long. I mentioned the strong feelings one gets when listening to old songs, which brought me to the idea of starting a series of Romanian Nostalgia cures, starting with my favorite way to self-soothe: translatingContinue reading “Romanian Nostalgia – Lyrical Edition”

Shadowing Carlos Ruiz Zafón And His Own, Everlasting Shadow

“I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.” This first line of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s novel The Shadow of the Wind still echoes in my mind, haunting my dreams while also reminding me of my own humble beginnings; just as the protagonist’s, Daniel Sempere’sContinue reading “Shadowing Carlos Ruiz Zafón And His Own, Everlasting Shadow”

The Dreaded 30

It is impossible to pass through life in a university without hearing someone complain about aging. Almost every time someone announces their birthday it comes with a sigh and a disenchanted remark about the passage of time. Judging by the students’ expressions and words, you would think they had just been at a syndicated AmericanContinue reading “The Dreaded 30”

The grimm side of fairytales

  When hearing the phrase “once upon a time…” most of us already know that we are about to be told a fairytale. I don’t have any statistical facts on this, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that most children love fairytales. Maybe it’s because of the desire that humans haveContinue reading “The grimm side of fairytales”

Warriors: Coming of age through cats

  I get a variety of reactions when I tell people that the series I read throughout my childhood and early teens was one about cats. What’s so great about cats? How can you read book after book, thousands of pages about cats? What can the writer possibly still write about? I too wondered thatContinue reading “Warriors: Coming of age through cats”

The Disappearance of the Hatchet Job

In 2012, review aggregator website The Omnivore launched the Hatchet Job of the Year award, given to the “the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review” of the last year in Britain. The prize was a year’s worth of potted shrimp donated by The Fish Society. By now defunct, the award was onlyContinue reading “The Disappearance of the Hatchet Job”