The Joys of Teaching Literature, started in September 2010 and with a Spanish version since July 2021, is a blog for ranting and raving about teaching and researching English Literature, Cultural Studies, and Gender Studies, and other aspects of the Anglophone world. I publish a post once a week, usually on Monday. Please, download the yearly volumes for free or read the volume collecting some of the entries (Passionate Professing: The Context and Practice of English Literature, 2023). The comments option is not available, sorry, but you may contact me through my e-mail address, Sara.Martin@uab.cat. The contents of this blog are protected by a type 4 Creative Common License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd)).

  • RETHINKING GEORGE MONBIOT’S CONCEPT OF VENGEFUL NIHILISM: US PATRIARCHY’S NEW PHASE?

    I’m reacting much belatedly to an article by George Monbiot, a noted environmentalist and Guardian columnist. The article is called “The fact that humans can only survive on Earth doesn’t bother Trump – and I know why”, and was published on 5 March this year. The subtitle announces that “Vengeful nihilism is a big part…

  • REPENSANDO EL CONCEPTO DE NIHILISMO VENGATIVO DE GEORGE MONBIOT: ¿LA NUEVA FASE DEL PATRIARCADO ESTADOUNIDENSE?

    Reacciono aquí con gran retraso a un artículo de George Monbiot, un destacado activista defensor del medioambiente y conocido columnista de The Guardian. El artículo se llama (traduzco) “El hecho de que los humanos solo puedan sobrevivir en la Tierra no le preocupa a Trump, y sé por qué”, y se publicó el 5 de…

  • THE VALUE OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: RESISTING MANIPULATION, ABUSE, AND EXPLOITATION

    I’m teaching this semester the core subject ‘Contemporary Anglophone Literature: 1990 to the Present’, which we introduced last year in the fourth year of our English Studies BA. I was presenting the introduction to the first unit, 1990-1997, with a survey of the main political, social, and technoscientific events, when I noticed that most persons…

  • EL VALOR DE LA CULTURA GENERAL: FRENAR LA MANIPULACIÓN, EL ABUSO Y LA EXPLOTACIÓN

    Estoy enseñando este semestre la asignatura troncal ‘Literatura anglófona contemporánea: 1990 hasta el presente’, que introdujimos el año pasado en el cuarto año de nuestro Grado en Estudios Ingleses. Estaba presentando la introducción a la primera unidad, 1990-1997, con un resumen de los principales eventos políticos, sociales y tecnocientíficos, cuando noté que la mayoría de…

  •  BACK TO ADAPTATION STUDIES: THE MATTER OF THEORIZATION (AND KAMILLA ELLIOTT)

    Back in 1992, when I started writing the shorter dissertation in our doctoral programme (the equivalent of an MA dissertation, since we didn’t have yet MA programmes in Spain), I truly thought that my main field of research would be Adaptation Studies. My short dissertation dealt with the film adaptation of the novel by John…