Cette série explore l'importance cruciale de la littérature et de la lecture dans le monde contemporain, en examinant de manière critique l'état de l'enseignement littéraire au sein des institutions académiques. Chaque volume offre une perspective polémique sur la manière dont les valeurs littéraires traditionnelles sont remises en question par les disciplines internes et les pressions externes. À une époque d'exigences économiques et de changements technologiques, la série prône un renouveau, relançant la discussion sur la signification et la valeur de la lecture littéraire pour la pensée critique.
Tim Parks celebrates ten years of living in Italy with this account of the delights and foibles of Italian life. With an Italian wife and family, he is able to introduce the reader to a gallery of characters. Tim Parks won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Betty Trask Award for Tongues of Flame and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for Loving Roger.
Michael Levenson considers how the humanities exist beyond the walls of universities and take place in daily life- in book clubs, public libraries, museums, and historical re-enactments. He poses questions about amateurs versus professionals, what constitutes expertise, and the recent backlash against political elites.
Reading and the Reader defends the value of reading serious literature, investigating the role of the reader in the human search for meaning outside as well as inside of books.
Medical Humanities comprises disciplines as diverse as literature, the visual and performing arts, the history of medicine, and bioethics. Josie Billington examines the value that literature adds to medical education in health training and practice, and defends the power of the arts as a remedial force.
Rick Rylance addresses the debate over the public value of literary studies, from antiquity to the present day. He offers an account of the foundational issue of "the public good" and explores the disciplinary integrity of literary study.