Guide to the classics news, research and analysis - the conversation

May 13, 2025 Christopher D Parkinson, _The University of Melbourne_ One of the world’s oldest cookbooks, De Re Coquinaria, contains recipes for familiar staples, along with more exotic fare.

April 25, 2025 Anthony Macris, _University of Technology Sydney_ ‘If the book we are reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?’ March 26, 2025 Matthew

Sussman, _University of Sydney_ Charlotte Brontë’s first-person masterpiece is a landmark in the novel of interiority, the history of feminism, and the representation of religion and race.

January 22, 2025 Emma Cole, _The University of Queensland_ No other classic text has left such a mark on how we tell stories, create theatre, and structure film. But what does it actually

say? January 16, 2025 Jamie Q. Roberts, _University of Sydney_ ‘Frankly, I think the whole society is nuts,’ Joseph Heller once said – ‘and the question is: What does a sane man do in an

insane society?’ December 31, 2024 Caillan Davenport, _Australian National University_ On Old Age, the Roman politician, orator, and philosopher Cicero advocates for the dignity and value of

growing old. But his is a voice of privilege, which discounts women and the enslaved. December 19, 2024 Mridula Nath Chakraborty, _Monash University_ E.M. Forster’s motto was “only

connect”. But what if the colonised and the coloniser cannot understand each other in any way? September 25, 2024 Eric Parisot, _Flinders University_ A novel that invites adoration and

controversy in equal measure, Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther has endured in the popular imagination. July 5, 2024 Jamie Q. Roberts, _University of Sydney_ Quoting this book dating

from the 5th century BCE has become an internet cliché – but what does it really say? February 21, 2024 Sheila Fitzpatrick, _Australian Catholic University_ Yevgeny Zamyatin was a born loner

and instinctive satirist, whose usual response to collective enthusiasm was to dissent. January 4, 2024 Jamie Q. Roberts, _University of Sydney_ In his essays, Walter Benjamin sought to

understand the nature of modernity. He drew on Marxism but was not contained by it, ranging across literature, art, popular culture, even Jewish mysticism. December 6, 2023 Jindan Ni, _RMIT

University_ A classic of the Heian period of Japanese literature, the sensual delight of The Pillow Book encourages writers to ‘follow their brush’. October 24, 2023 Debjani Ganguly,

_Australian Catholic University_ What constitutes righteous action in the face of moral ambiguity and the inevitability of violence? This question is at the heart of The Bhagavad Gita.

October 11, 2023 Monique Rooney, _Australian National University_ The Harp in the South has been published in 37 languages since 1948. Ruth Park was compared to Dickens for her lively

portrayal of Sydney’s slums. But what does the character of Charlie Roche reveal? September 4, 2023 Richard Colledge, _Australian Catholic University_ Simone Weil is one of the 20th

century’s most remarkable, paradoxical figures. The Need for Roots, published in the year she died at just 34, is a tour de force of ethics and political philosophy. June 5, 2023 Helen

Groth, _UNSW Sydney_ In George Eliot’s masterpiece of 19th century realism, characters are confronted with the limits of their individual capacities and visions. May 5, 2023 Kit MacFarlane,

_University of South Australia_ The ‘divine right of kings’ may sound obsolete, but it has resonances today. Richard II asks what it means to have power, to take power – and what we’re left

with when it’s gone. April 4, 2023 Sophie Alexandra Frazer, _University of Wollongong_ In Thomas Hardy’s novel The Woodlanders, the trees sing. Hardy’s exploration of the relationship

between humans and trees resonates in an epoch of environmental catastrophe. March 21, 2023 Sharon Bickle, _University of Southern Queensland_ First published in 1897, Dracula is the

best-known vampire story in English. It has been endlessly adapted for screen, but today’s stories tend to dilute the horror at the novel’s heart. February 5, 2023 Jodi McAlister, _Deakin

University_ A UK university has attached a trigger warning to Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen’s biting satire, for ‘toxic relationships’. Ironically, Jodi McAlister loves it for the gentle

romance at its centre.