Generally, spring is celebrated as the season of rebirth, and new beginnings. At university, though, autumn hails the beginning of the academic year – a fresh start. The humanities’ library team has compiled an autumn reading list for you to kick off the season. When the cold rain inevitably starts beating against your windows (we’re in the Netherlands, after all), borrow one of these books, get yourself a good cup of tea, and rejoice in the wonders of autumn.
If you have a question about the collection, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us through AskYourLibrarian
Ali Smith – Autumn (2017)
An unconventional love story playing across the boundaries of time and history. The first of four novels in a series, wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories. Fusing Keatsian mists and mellow fruitfulness with the vitality and the colour-hit of Pop Art – via a bit of very contemporary skulduggery and skull-diggery
Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever ...
Deanna Petherbridge - Witches & wicked bodies (2013)
Witches & Wicked Bodies provides an innovative, rich survey of images of European witchcraft from the fifteenth century to the present day. It focuses on the representation of women and the enduring stereotypes they embody, ranging from hideous old crones to beautiful young seductresses. Such imagery has ancient precedents and has been repeatedly re-invented by artists over the centuries.
Deanna Petherbridge introduces this fascinating subject and includes insightful catalogue entries on each of the exhibited works; the works primarily feature drawings and prints as well as a group of important paintings, all from British collections. A wide range of artists is represented including Dürer, Cranach, Goya, Fuseli, Blake, Burra, Sherman and Rego.
Edith Wharton – The Ghost Stories (1975)
Is autumn the spookiest season of all? The season when the days suddenly shorten, when the winds pick up and howl, making the house creek in unusual ways. Or was it perhaps something else that made that strange noise, something dark and spectral from beyond the grave ..? Enjoy the horror of the supernatural with these ghost stories by Edith Warton, who once summarized succinctly what makes a ghost story good: "If it sends a cold shiver down one's spine, it has done its job and done it well."
Martijn Storms – Maps That Made History (2022)
Maps are intriguing. They give us the impression of a non-biased view of reality. But maps can also be (deliberately) manipulative, from Western colonial creations to the state propaganda of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung.
In Maps That Made History, an international team of historians tell a hundred fascinating stories about remarkable maps from the renowned collections of Leiden University Libraries. From the early medieval worldview of the cleric Isidore of Seville through to a Chinese propaganda map from 2013, via a Nazi map of Warsaw planning the outlines of the Jewish ghetto. From Leiden to Ceylon, Jamaica, Philadelphia and the Sahara, and from exuberant charts of the world to local maps.
Because of its XL-format you can only consult this book at the Radboud Central Library. Come visit us, take the book from the shelves, and find yourself a comfortable seat to go through this visual feast. The Library holds both the English as Dutch language versions of this book (Dutch title: Kaarten die geschiedenis schreven: 1000 jaar wereldgeschiedenis in 100 oude kaarten)
Nicholas P. Money – Mushroom (2011)
The overnight appearance of mushrooms in a meadow or on a suburban lawn is a marvelous sight. It is one of many awe-inspiring, magical processes that have evolved among the fungi, yet this group remains the least studied and most poorly understood kingdom of organisms. In Mushroom , Nicholas Money offers a vibrant introduction to the world of mushrooms, investigating the science behind these organisms as well as their enduring cultural and imaginative appeal. Beginning with the basics of mushroom biology, Money leads us through a history of mushroom research, painting portraits of the colorful characters involved in their study--among them, Beatrix Potter, the celebrated author and creator of Peter Rabbit, and Captain Charles McIlvaine, a Civil War veteran who engaged in a dangerous quest to determine the edibility of every mushroom in North America. Money also discusses the uses of mushrooms today, exploring their importance as food and medicine, their use as recreational drugs, and as the cause of horrific poisonings. A cultural, natural, and scientific history in one, Mushroom is a must-read for mycophiles, mushroom gatherers, and nature lovers alike.
Wolfgang Schivelbusch - The Culture of Defeat (2004)
What happens to overconfident societies when the inevitable autumn of history comes around (or when history skips autumn altogether and jumps straight into a harsh winter)? In The Culture of Defeat, cultural historian Wolfgang Schivelbusch shows how societies react when they face a sudden and complete loss in war. What happens to the psyche of a defeated people? How do they make sense of their role in history, their value as a culture, and their raison d’être as a people or nation? In three parts describing the loss of the American South in the Civil War, the French after the Franco-Prussian War, and Germany after the First World War, Schivelbusch ties together everything from popular culture to politics, from mythology to technology, literature to economic thought. All these interesting and unexpected connections between all corners of society make this book a fascinating, almost literary read.
John Keats - “Ode to Autumn,” in the Poems of John Keats (1978)
The “[s]eason of mists and mellow fruitfulness” is almost upon us (although the recent sunny weather may make us pause and wonder when autumn is coming). John Keats wrote the beautiful “Ode to Autumn,” lauding what autumn has to offer. While spring is often celebrated, we shouldn’t forget that autumn has “[its] music too,” and this season has its particular joys to revel in, too.
Jess Nevins - Horror fiction in the 20th century (2020)
Horror Fiction in the 20th Century encompasses the world of 20th century horror literature and explores it in a critical but balanced fashion. Readers will be exposed the world of horror literature, a truly global phenomenon during the 20th century.
Beginning with the modern genre's roots in the 19th century, the book proceeds to cover 20th century horror literature in all of its manifestations, whether in comics, pulps, paperbacks, hardcover novels, or mainstream magazines, and from every country that produced it. The major horror authors of the century receive their due, but the works of many authors who are less well-known or who have been forgotten are also described and analyzed. In addition to providing critical assessments and judgments of individual authors and works, the book describes the evolution of the genre and the major movements within it.
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