“Determination to look back”: The comforting and violent state of nostalgia in Ling Ma’s Severance and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

  In contemporary culture, nostalgia is a comforting emotion often weaponised and exploited to sell us styles of the past, both politically and commercially. I argue that while nostalgia can evoke reassuring recollections of treasured times: it is a dangerous tool that traps us into regressive systems. In Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Changez initially feels …

Essay – Demons, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Focus Point: The nihilistic ideas and motivations of Aleksey Nilych (Kirillov) Of our author’s notorious big five[1], Demons (also referred to as “The Devils”) is Dostoyevsky’s darkest and most political novel, focusing on the Verkhovensky and Stavrogin families and their links to a revolutionary cell. One such member is the mysterious Aleksey Nilych; best known …

An essay on Notes from Underground

Matter of discussion: “What are the Underground man’s objections to science and the ‘perfect modern liberal world’? Do we totally object such views or is their something to be learnt from them?” In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s short but sharp tale Notes from Underground, he portrays a man of the very lowest standard; isolated from the rest …

The Idiot: Essay Question

Topic: “Take a look at some of Myshkin’s parables. Do they have a moral point? Do they tend to have a connection to the situation at hand, or the person hearing them? Why does Myshkin tell these stories?” Throughout The Idiot, our tragic hero Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin (thankfully referred to most commonly as the …

Album Review: The Strokes – The New Abnormal

7 years after the disappointment that was The Strokes’ Comedown Machine, their 2020 release is a triumphant return to form, not only helping to sharpen the bands discography, but to also make these tough times slightly more bearable. The intro track “The Adults Are Talking” starts us off with an absolute Strokes classic, very much …

The top 25 songs of the Arctic Monkeys

25. When The Sun Goes Down No doubt many will feel this is criminally low, but for me it just seems like a track that is overshadowed by the following two on the record. It lacks the significant build up that really gives the energetic guitar work that follows it as much reward. Nevertheless a …

An Essay on “Keep the Aspidistra Flying”, by George Orwell

Matter of discussion: “How is Gordon’s represented in the novel, as well as his approach and views on the famous aspidistra plant?” In Orwell’s third novel “Keep The Aspidistra Flying”, he represents a man in Gordon who’s admirable, yet flawed way of thinking brings him to the very lows of this world, bitter and resentful …

Book review: Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

My Score: 3 stars out of 5 Continuing on from my last literary review (7 months ago, I haven’t been on the greatest form, I know), today I’ll take a look at Emily Bronte’s only ever novel in 1847’s Wuthering Heights. Sadly, unlike her sister Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights fails to create a fully …

Political Debate: Gun Control

This essay will examine, in the most neutral and honest manner one can attempt, the issue of gun violence and gun control, specifically in the United States of America, and after analysing both sides of the debate, will come to a conclusion of what side is most convincing and realistic. May I note that whilst …

Animal Life Vs Human life in Blake

Imagery of animal life is a constant theme throughout William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, and in almost all of his poetry it helps his exploration of what ideal human life should be like. The innocence poem “The Echoing Green” is a perfect example of this, here Blake displays the merriment that occurs in …