Gr-words as mushrooms
Some words propagate like mushrooms: no roots but a sizable crowd of upstarts calling themselves relatives. Gr-words are the pet subject of all works on sound imitation and sound symbolism.
America’s first feminist ballet: Ruth Page and American Pattern
As that rare creature—an American woman who, defining herself as a choreographer and ballet director, amassed a degree of power and prestige and exerted aesthetic prerogatives—Ruth Page’s life and work offer refreshing paradigms for the twenty-first century.
Life of a Contrarian Writer: James Purdy’s life-changing correspondences [excerpt]
The American author James Purdy has long been considered a “lost” figure in literary studies, but he has always enjoyed a certain cult following among artists and writers interested in the fringes of society. Michael Snyder details how Purdy began making the connections that would carry him through his career.
What is “normal” anyway? How reading changes our thinking about mental health
Reading literature has us think differently, with a subtler emotional lexicon. Explore three case studies into reading for identity, expression, and mental health from the Centre for Research into Reading, Literature, and Society (CRILS).
Monosyllabic moping
The Oxford Etymologist the common but etymologically opaque verb “mope”, and other monosyllabic verbs.
OUP celebrates their BMA 2022 Award winners
OUP celebrates their BMA 2022 Award winners: Sandra Galea, Harold Thimbleby, and David Beaumont.
Eight classic novels to inspire your New Year [reading list]
Are you searching for inspiration to help further your goals this new year? Reading books offers an easy yet effective way to help navigate life, so who better to turn to than authors of some well-loved Oxford World’s Classics!
2023 and adventures in the idiom wonderland
The Oxford Etymologist explores a selection of idioms, including the amazing story of the phrase “fox’s wedding.”
Six books from 2022 to add to your 2023 reading list
Here are six books from 2022 that reviewers and critics loved that you should add to your 2023 reading list.
Infectious disease in the twentieth century
In the first half of the century, the three great killers among endemic diseases—smallpox, malaria, and tuberculosis—raging around the world (we think today of malaria as a tropical malady but in the 1920s there were outbreaks as far north as Siberia) were each responsible for more deaths than the 80 million who died in both world wars. Innovations stemming from the Second World War, an immense hothouse of technological progress, made it possible to contemplate combatting infectious disease on a global scale.
Can you itch an itch?
Reading Dan Chaon’s novel Sleepwalk last summer, I noticed his use of the verb itch to mean scratch.
Domestic violence: deconstructing the “gender paradigm”
Most people—and not just the average citizen but, sadly, most policy makers and other stakeholders—hold mistaken and distorted beliefs about intimate partner violence (IPV). This is what some call the “gender paradigm.”
Skin-deep: wrinkle, pimple, and mole
The history of “dude” has been documented with amazing accuracy.
What’s next for China? Sustainability, technology, and the world’s future
We must re-envision our thinking about China’s rise and its role in the world in terms of two newer issue areas, sustainability and emerging technology.
Funny how it ain’t so funny: casting, Funny Girl, and Broadway’s body issues
Sometimes the meeting of an actor and a role produces a rare kind of alchemy that forever bonds the two… and sometimes the opposite happens. The former occurred when twenty-one-year-old Barbra Streisand was cast as famed comedienne Fanny Brice in the 1964 musical Funny Girl.
Leonardo and the Salvator Mundi: fame and infamy
When people ask me about the Salvator Mundi, just like Google, I can predict the questions they will “also ask.”