Oxford University Press

Essays on Dickens and HumourHow does Dickens make his readers laugh? What is the distinctive character of Dickensian humour? Malcolm Andrews explores these questions in a fascinating study of a neglected area of Dickens studies....

On March 23, 1900, Arthur John Evans and his staff began to excavate on Crete, looking for the fabled site of Knossos, where an extraordinary civilization, a precursor to classical Greece, was rumored to have existed. Almost from the first shovel stroke, artifacts began to emerge. Evans realized that here was "e;an extraordinary phenomenon,...

A Generativist Study of the Israelite Sacrificial System in the Priestly Writings with A &'Grammar&' of ΣThe notion that rituals, like natural languages, are governed by implicit, rigorous rules led scholars in the last century, harking back to the early Indian grammarian PataAjali, to speak of a "e;grammar"e;, or "e;syntax"e;, of...

In November 1814, Jane Austen&'s niece Fanny Knight wrote Austen a letter secretly requesting advice. Fanny wanted urgently to know whether she should continue encouraging her most ardent suitor, what the future would hold were she to marry him, and whether she, Fanny, was in love with him. Fanny evidently wished to turn over her love life to...

John Henry Newman is often described as &'the Father of the Second Vatican Council&'. He anticipated most of the Council&'s major documents, as well as being an inspiration to the theologians who were behind them. His writings offer an illuminating commentary both on the teachings of the Council and the way these have been implemented and...

Portraits of Soviet ScientistsA chronicle of the lives of twelve notable and celebrated Soviet scientists from the Cold War era, a time of great scientific achievement in the USSR....