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‘Worst is beginning’: Reading Ulysses

Wednesday 16 June was Bloomsday, when fans of James Joyce’s seminal 1922 novel Ulysses celebrate the author’s work. In Ulysses, the action takes place within a single day – 16 June 1904 – in Dublin. As my own nod to Bloomsday, I’m bringing you a short excerpt from Jeri Johnson‘s Introduction to the Oxford World’s Classics edition of Ulysses, in which she talks about the novel’s formidable reputation and the intimidation readers coming to the novel for the first time might feel.

Walter Bagehot on the English Constituition

Written in 1867, The English Constitution is generally accepted to be the best account of the history and working of the British political system ever written. As arguments raged in mid-Victorian Britain about giving the working man the vote, and democracies overseas were pitched into despotism and civil war, Bagehot took a long, cool look at the ‘dignified’ and ‘efficient’ elements which made the English system the envy of the world.

The 1987 General Election and Aftermath

An exerpt from The Oxford History of Britain.

The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook: Hints on Camp Life

An excerpt from 1888’s The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, recently reprinted in the Oxford World’s Classics series.

Medicine and The Bible

An excerpt from The Oxford Companion to the Bible.