When we think of C.S. Lewis the majestic lion Aslan and the magical world of Narnia are what immediately come to mind....
Monographs
I had already “threatened“ you (in the page About Me of this website: I remember it perfectly, as if I had written it myself… ) telling you that I love studying, hadn’t I? Good… so you know what to expect!
In this section of my website you can find “some” (just two, maybe three!) monographs on various topics and writers: my passion for studying and the wish to experiment the use of the amazing instruments offered by technology encouraged me to try my hand at creating some short slide presentations of writers and literary topics to offer my students in PDF form.
Since I can’t always find on textbooks what I’m interested in, my presentations tend to offer a lot of (at times, even too much…) information: as regards writers I give details both on their life and their works focusing on those aspects which I consider most stimulating while in the case of a literary or historical topic I do my best to reconstruct the causes and to outline the essential traits.
Nothing of what you’ll find is exhaustive nor does it presume to be so: it can be enhanced and improved. My aim is to give an input, to spark interest and offer food for thought.
The sources and websites I use for my research are all in English.
All Monographs
(*) All searches are carried out on the “Monographs” archive, using the text entered, even partially.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN
"I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like...
LAURA BATES
Laura Bates is a pioneering feminist, activist and bestselling author who she has given voice to hundreds of...
MEENA KANDASAMY
Meena Kandasamy is a poet, fiction writer, translator and activist who was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She has...
WARSAN SHIRE
Warsan Shire is a poet, activist, editor and teacher, a spoken-word artist whose poetry, usually performed publicly,...
SIMON ARMITAGE
Simon Armitage is an English poet, playwright, novelist and DJ. His interest in poetry goes back a long way and as...
KAZUO ISHIGURO
Kazuo Ishiguro is a Japanese-born British novelist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 and was knighted in...
RAY BRADBURY
Ray Bradbury was a narrator as well as a TV and cinema screenwriter. After selling newspapers at street-corners in Los...
WILLIAM GOLDING
William Golding was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. He is best known for...
SAMUEL BECKETT
Samuel Beckett was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator...
GEORGE ORWELL
George Orwell was a writer, journalist, literary critic and socio-political activist who found the courage “The...
ALDOUS HUXLEY
Although dystopian novels usually describe an imaginary reality of the future in which life is undesirable or...
JEAN RHYS
Jean Rhys was a Mid-20th century novelist from Dominica who earned acclaim for her early works set in the bohemian...
THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT
Thomas Stearns Eliot was an Anglo-American poet, playwright, essayist and literary critic, Nobel Prize for literature...
EZRA POUND
Ezra Pound was an American poet, essayist and literary critic as well as one of the most controversial figures of the...
VIRGINIA WOOLF
Who shall measure the heat and violence of a poet's heart when caught and tangled in a woman's body? (from A Room of...
JAMES JOYCE
The Irish writer James Joyce is considered to be one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century, a creative...
THE IRISH QUESTION
The history of the UK is inevitably and closely linked to that of Ireland and to “the Irish question”, the origins of...
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
William Butler Yeats was a strongly nationalist Irish writer who drew ideas and emotions from Celtic myths in order to...
THE WAR POETS
When the First World War broke out many young Englishmen enlisted to fight what they believed would be a short and...
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
If Dr Arthur Conan Doyle, GP, hadn’t decided to make the most of those long periods of inactivity spent waiting for...
OSCAR WILDE
Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet, novelist and playwright, one of the greatest representatives of the Aesthetic...
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
The Italian critic and writer A. Tabucchi, when invited to say which book he would choose among all those he had read,...
SAMUEL BUTLER
Samuel Butler was an extremely versatile novelist whose interests ranged from music to painting, from the classical...
ROBERT MICHAEL BALLANTYNE
Robert Michael Ballantyne was a Scottish writer and artist, well-known for his adventure stories and for his almost...
EMILY BRONTË
Emily Brontë was a much more complex artistic personality than her sister Charlotte. She is remembered as the writer...
CHARLOTTE BRONTË
«There was once a little girl and her name was Anne»: this is how the first short story written by Charlotte Brontë...
CHARLES DICKENS
British novelist, journalist, editor, illustrator, social commentator and even actor, Charles Dickens is remembered as...
MARY SHELLEY
Romantic novelist married to the poet P.B. Shelley, Mary Shelley came from a cultured family: her father was the...
GEORGE GORDON BYRON
British Romantic poet and satirist, Lord George Gordon Byron captured the imagination of Europe not only with his...
The RIME of the ANCIENT MARINER: from poetry to music.
Founder of the Romantic Movement in England together with his friend William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge left...
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
The premier poet-critic of modern English tradition, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a founder of the Romantic Movement in...
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
William Wordsworth is considered to be one of the founders of English Romanticism together with S.T. Coleridge thanks...
WILLIAM BLAKE
A visionary poet and an engraver, a precursor of the Romantic movement considered insane and largely disregarded by...
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
Mary Wollstonecraft was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights. She was the wife of the...
JAMES MACPHERSON
Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, James Macpherson is known as the "translator" of the Ossian...
LAURENCE STERNE
The most original of all novelists of the 18th century was undoubtedly Laurence Sterne, whose baffling comic novel The...
JONATHAN SWIFT
Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own”: this is...
DANIEL DEFOE
English writer, pamphleteer and journalist, Daniel Defoe is the founder of the English novel with his Robinson Crusoe...
APHRA BEHN
One of the first English women to earn her livelihood by authorship, Aphra Behn was a prolific writer of the period...
JOHN DONNE
When we speak of John Donne we immediately associate metaphysical poetry with its far-fetched metaphors and ingenious...
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
English poet, dramatist, and actor, William Shakespeare is often called the English national poet and considered...
EDMUND SPENSER
Edmund Spenser was one of the greatest poets in the English language, recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of...
THOMAS MORE
Saint Thomas More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, writer, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He...
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
Known as the father of English literature, Geoffrey Chaucer is considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages...
ROBIN HOOD
Who has never heard of Robin Hood, the heroic outlaw who stole from the rich to give to the poor? A highly skilled...
BEOWULF
Written in Old English some time before the 10th century A.D., Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British...
Sitography
For a general introduction to the life and works of the authors:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/
https://www.biography.com/writer/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/
https://www.britishlibrary.cn/en/articles/
https://www.notablebiographies.com/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/
For the analysis of the works:
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/
For summary, targeted insights and curiosities:
https://interestingliterature.com/
https://seizethebook.weebly.com/
https://study.com/academy/lesson/
https://www.historyrevealed.com/eras/
https://owlcation.com/humanities/
For the introduction to the period and specific articles on the authors:
https://www.bl.uk/medieval-literature
https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians
https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature
https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/
For specific cases:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/
https://www.ancient-literature.com/
https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/
https://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/
https://www.stpatricks.ie/media-centre/events/2019/november/swift-festival-2019
https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ballantyne_robert_michael_12E.html
https://londonist.com/2016/03/charlotte-brontes-london
https://www.bronte.org.uk/about-us
https://www.historymatters.group.shef.ac.uk/charlotte-bronte-legacies-afterlives/
https://www.wuthering-heights.co.uk/wh/
https://robert-louis-stevenson.org/
https://www.conandoyleinfo.com/life-conan-doyle/
https://www.warpoets.org/conflicts/great-war/
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/
https://www.william-golding.co.uk/explore-search/
https://www.william-golding.co.uk/william-goldings-legacy-enduring-influence-on-popular-culture
https://raybradbury.com/on-writing/
https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writers/
https://writersmakeworlds.com/essay-shire-home/
https://www.facinghistory.org/standing-up-hatred-intolerance/warsan-shire-home
For the “Irish question”:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2020.1722194
The New Troubles: Northern Ireland, September 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxFSGRn4zQY
Easter Rising: Centenary parade takes place in Dublin
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35905248
Easter Rising: British military casualties commemorated in NI
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35908564
Easter Rising 1916: Six days of armed struggle that changed Irish and British history
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35873316
Brexit: What will happen to NI after 31 January?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-51271807
50 Years on from the Troubles – many fear a return to violence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-55du2_XJU
Timeline of dissident republican activity
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-10866072
For ideas on setting:
the power-points offered by the following textbooks
- D. J. Ellis, B. Cauzzo, White Spaces, Ed. Loescher, 2017
- M. Spiazzi, M. Tavella, M. Layton, Performer. Culture and literature, Ed. Zanichelli, 2015














































