All Courses

In this course, Dr Liz Gloyn (Royal Holloway, University of London) explores Seneca’s Epistulae Morales. We begin by providing a brief overview of Seneca’s life and literary output, before focusing in more detail on the letter as a literary form....

In this course, Professor Anna McMullan (University of Reading) explores Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. We begin in the first module with an overview of Beckett’s life, career and literary output. After that, we think about the mixed...

In this course, Professor Andrew Gibson (Royal Holloway, London) explores Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. We begin by thinking about Beckett’s life, tracing his development as a man and a writer up to the outbreak of the Second World War...

In this course, Professor Glenn Richardson (St Mary’s University) explores the life of Cardinal Wolsey (1472-1530), one of Henry VIII’s most trusted advisors in the first part of his reign. We begin by thinking about Wolsey’s rise from relatively...

In this course, Professor John Cottingham (University of Reading) explores of the key issues in the philosophy of religion: the problem of evil. We begin by thinking about the attributes of god and the logical problem of evil. Is it...

In this course, Professor Marie Mulvey-Roberts (University of the West of England) explores Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. We begin by providing an introduction to Carter herself, focusing in particular on the range of her literary output and...

In this course, Professor Karen Edwards (University of Exeter) explores of Books 9 and 10 of John Milton’s Paradise Lost through five key questions: (1) What do we learn from Satan’s soliloquy and his return to hell? (2) What is...

In this course, Professor Kevin Ruane (Canterbury Christ Church University) discusses the Cold War in Asia. We begin by thinking about the atomic bombing of Japan in August 1945. Why did President Truman choose to use a weapon that he...

In this course, Dr Keith Williams (University) explores H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. We begin by thinking about the concept of ‘Mars fever’, focusing in particular on the reasons behind the resurgent interest in the planet in...

In this course, Professor Dave Andress (University of Portsmouth) considers eight key questions related to the French Revolution of 1789-99: (1) Did Louis XVI ever try to make the Constitutional Monarchy work? (2) To what extent did the National...

In this course, Dr William Blazek (Liverpool Hope University) explores F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. We being by thinking about the concept of the American Dream, focusing in particular on how some of the major characters in...

In this course, Professor Nick Groom (University of Exeter) explores Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. We begin by thinking about the life of Mary Shelley herself, focusing in particular on her fateful trip to the Villa Diodati with Percy Shelley in...