by Talking Humanities | May 13, 2021 | Analysis & Comment, Archives & Libraries, Features, History & Classics, Languages & Literature, Publications, Research & Resources
As the year-long calendar of events to mark the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante gets underway, Dr Karen Attar, Senate House Library’s curator of rare books, looks at Virgil, the prominent character in the great poet’s epic work, The Divine Comedy. The literary...
by Talking Humanities | Mar 18, 2021 | Analysis & Comment, Features, Philosophy, Research & Resources
Why do irrational beliefs spread so easily? Lisa Bortolotti, professor of philosophy at the University of Birmingham, revisits her project, The Epistemic Innocence of Imperfect Cognitions, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Science in Culture Theme led...
by Talking Humanities | Mar 16, 2021 | Analysis & Comment, Features, Publications, Research & Resources
Hyenas, the antithesis of gorgeous, graceful African wildlife, needs a rebrand. Ahead of the publication of his new book, ‘Humans and Hyenas: Monsters or Misunderstood’, Professor Keith Somerville says it is time to replace the myths with a more accurate...
by Talking Humanities | Mar 11, 2021 | Archives & Libraries, Libraries & Publications, Research & Resources
Rare books curator, Dr Karen Attar, turns her attention to a Senate House Library tome which concentrates on singing – Isaac Watts’s ‘The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament’. Around this time in previous years, I have sometimes discussed...
by Talking Humanities | Feb 18, 2021 | Archives & Libraries, Features, Libraries & Publications, Publications, Research & Resources
When donors bequeath collections to libraries, they sometimes also leave money to develop the collections on the lines on which they were begun. Depending on the amount left, purchases may continue indefinitely, or the capital may be spent, and trust fund closed. Dr...
by Talking Humanities | Feb 16, 2021 | Features, Human Rights, Libraries & Publications, Politics & Law, Publications, Research & Resources
Graham McKerrow, a contributor to ‘Queer Between the Covers’ (University of London Press, May 2021), looks at Operation Tiger, the British state’s attempt in the 1980s to prohibit the importation of all queer books, newspapers and magazines, including the latest...