'I have so much and my feeling for her devours everything, I have so much and without her everything is nothing.' The Sorrows of Young Werther propelled Goethe to instant fame when it first appeared in 1774. Goethe drew on his own unhappy experiences to tell the story of Werther, a young man torment[...]
The Literary Agenda is a series of short polemical monographs about the importance of literature and of reading in the wider world and about the state of literary education inside schools and universities. The category of 'the literary' has always been contentious. What is clear, however, is how inc[...]
This year Christians worldwide will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of Constantine's conversion and victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. No Roman emperor had a greater impact on the modern world than did Constantine. The reason is not simply that he converted to Christianity but that he did[...]
The Roman calendar, in particular the Julian form of the calendar during the reign of Caesar, was used as the basis for what is, globally, the most important calendar today. It evolved in a series of reforms and revolutions and many of its peculiar features, from the names of the months to the numbe[...]
Widely regarded as one of cinema's most accomplished directors, David Lean helmed such classics as Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist. He twice received the Academy Award for best director, and two of his films, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia won the Oscar for[...]
Written by JAMIE DELANO Art by RICHARD PIERS RAYNER, BRYAN TALBOT, DAVID LLOYD and others Cover by JOHN CASSADAY In these tales from issue #10-13, THE HORRORIST #1-2 and ANNUAL #1, Constantine wins his first victory in the war with Nergal and encounters a woman who is the embodiment of the world's h[...]
Gladiators and goddesses, philosophers and poets, epic battles and romantic landscapes - the classical world has for centuries captivated and inspired the west. But what provoked the shift from the western world's love-affair with classical Rome and its manifestation in the Renaissance, to the Hell[...]
In this innovative series of public lectures at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, leading contemporary poets speak about the craft and practice of poetry to audiences drawn from both the city and the university. The lectures are then published in book form by Bloodaxe, giving readers everywhere[...]
Even in Germany, the scope and force of Bertolt Brecht's poetry did not become apparent until long after his death and today, many of his more than 2,000 poems have never appeared in English. Love Poems, the first volume in a monumental undertaking by David Constantine and Tom Kuhn to translate his [...]