Category Archives: Cities of Literature

Last time out (far too long ago), we took a look at the University of Heidelberg, one of the oldest in Europe and indeed the world, and at its long and turbulent history.  This time, a quick post with a … Continue reading →

Time to look at another City of Literature!  And for this one, we travel to the soutwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and to the city of Heidelberg (pop. 160,000).  Heidelberg lies not far from Germany’s border with France, and occupies the … Continue reading →

Last time, we explored the notion that there is in fact a body of Sagas of Peterborians, analogous to those composed by the early settlers of Iceland a thousand and more years ago.  This time, I want to take a … Continue reading →

We recently talked a bit about the early “Sagas of Icelanders,” and I suggested then that we might find echoes of the genre in early Peterborian writings as well.  Time to investigate that idea a bit more closely.  Can we … Continue reading →

The word “saga” comes to us from Old Norse, and it at first simply meant “a story.”  It is related to English words like the verb “to say,” and “sage” (“sage” as in a wise person, not “sage” as in … Continue reading →

We are just a couple of days from the next look at a City of Literature!  And here is a sneak preview, from which cunning readers will be able to deduce which city will be coming under our gaze: Úlfr … Continue reading →

Last time, we took a quick look at Barcelona as a City of Literature, and in particular at Catalan poet Maria Mercè Marçal.  In this post, as usual, we switch back to Peterborough and its literary heritage.  And in particular we … Continue reading →

We are back at it!  And in this post, we travel to the north-east of Spain, and the city of Barcelona (pop. 1.6 million).  It is an old old city indeed, founded as a Roman colony in the early first … Continue reading →

Just a quick update, as we catch our breath after a long examination of the Peterborough Mechanics’ Institute.  We will be back on Monday, with a literary visit to the city pictured above — a sort of homage to Catalonia, … Continue reading →

With this post, we finish up our look at the Peterborough Mechanics’ Institute, the precursor to the city’s Public Library.   In Part 1, we examined briefly the history of the Institute, and in Part 2 we looked at the contents … Continue reading →