Renowned polymath Freeman Dyson (Institute for Advanced Study) gives his views on religion, science and community.

David Bellos, Director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University, suggests that the celebrated English comic tradition might simply be a result of translation.

This video discusses the nonfiction genre as well as qualities, types of pieces, and characteristics of the genre.

Chinese scholar and literary translator Michael Berry (UCLA) describes how historical circumstances have affected different Chinese-speaking regions.

Intellectual historian Stefan Collini, University of Cambridge, describes how, to a certain extent, one can say that the famous literary critic F.R. Leavis wrote in a deliberately difficult way, in an effort to make his readers think and...

This video explores five fun facts about Chinese Dragon.

This video explores five fun facts about Centaurs.

Roger Chillingworth is a vengeful and manipulative character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter". Consumed by his desire to discover the identity of his wife's lover, Chillingworth becomes a cold and calculating man....

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter," Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected Puritan reverend who suffers secret guilt and shame for his adulterous relationship with Hester Prynne and being the father of their child, Pearl....

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter," Hester Prynne is a strong and resilient young woman who faces public condemnation in Puritan Massachusetts for committing adultery. Despite her punishment, Hester refuses to reveal...

"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a dark novel set in Puritan Massachusetts. It explores themes of sin, guilt, and the corrupting influence of society on individuals. Through the characters of Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel, The Scarlet letter is a tragic tale of adultery and revenge. Hester Prynne faces public shame and punishment after an affair that results in a child. Her estranged husband resurfaces and seeks to torment...

Classicist Richard Janko (Michigan) describes his motivation to find new perspectives of the past, and his excitement at the possibility of retrieving long-lost manuscripts.

Historian David Armitage, Harvard University, describes how trying to understand how our modern age can appreciate the ideas and other cultural forms of the past triggered his move from literary scholarship to the history of ideas.

Historian Maria Mavroudi (UC Berkeley) relates a formative insight that she received as a student from the eminent Byzantist Alexander Kazhdan about how to properly look at what makes a "great civilization."

This video discusses four common literary text structures.

“Theme” will help students evaluate the concepts of theme and main idea within a piece of literature.

“Conflict and Plot” will help students to review the value of conflict within a storyline by examining both types of conflict: internal and external.

Roland Barthes' From Work to Text is a seminal essay which lays out why, in the humanities, we have come to refer to pieces of literature, films and many other things using the catch-all term "text". Because, we refer a lot to reading a...

In this latest episode of What The Theory?, I hope to provide an introduction to Marxism, culture and Marxist Literary Criticism and Theory. We're going to begin with the economic theories of Marx and Engels, particularly their base and...

Roy Baumeister, University of Queensland, describes how, for the longest time social psychologists only paid lip service to the social world, and that his groundbreaking work The Need To Belong was motivated by an awareness that much of...

“Static and Dynamic Characters” describes the differences between character types used in literature.

This is a video entitled “Theme Collage” which models how to determine the theme of a complete literary text.

In a time when Chinese immigrants in America faced discrimination in all walks of life – simply because of their race – author Edith Maude Eaton channeled the power of the pen to help make positive change.