Culture & Literature

How Reading Helped Us Get Through the Uncertainty, Isolation and Loneliness of Quarantine Finding yourself forced into solitude at a time of looming uncertainty and anxiety isn’t easy. To cope, many of us turned to things that would usually bring us comfort. Artists picked up journals and looked outside their windows for inspiration, athletes had to relearn exercise in the form of a yoga mat in a cramped bedroom, and we, readers, lost ourselves in a book… or two…or three. We reached out to Royal Holloway Readers, the university’s very own book club, about how reading offered company at a time of aloneness.   I, for one, found comfort in revisiting books I had read years ago. As soon as I picked up Haruki Murakami’s Wind Up Bird Chronicle, something about the familiarity...

That first week of a new academic year is a full landscape of emotion. Maybe you’re moving away from home for the very first time, or you’re mapping out the weekly commute; perhaps you’re a second or third (or fourth?) year student reorganising your bedroom in your new shared house. Maybe you got the box room. Maybe you should’ve drawn a longer straw. No matter how you’ll be commencing your studies at Royal Holloway this year, you’re bound to be feeling that trademark emotion: somewhere mercurial between ‘This is the start of the rest of my life’ and ‘I’ve left my stack of term one reading in Newquay’. But don’t worry. I’m here to suggest five great (and arbitrary) books I wish I’d read in my first year of university. Normal People by Sally Rooney You’ve probably seen the...

Translations control how hundreds of thousands of people perceive stories from across the globe. It is a difficult profession, often carrying little to no glory despite its arduous nature. It’s also a contentious field, inciting academic argument about what makes a truly ‘good’ translation. However, even within academia, one is hard pressed to find criticism concerning who controls translation. What is often overlooked is that every translated instance and particular word choice can influence a reader’s understanding of the events portrayed. In that sense, the translator has the power to completely change the nature of a text, even without intent. This poses a problem when it comes down to questions of representation in the media. When the voices of women and people of colour are being...