Dr. John Burton

I’m now on Instagram! Follow for channel updates and photos ☺️

1 day ago | [YT] | 0

Dr. John Burton

Why are we still telling the story of Odysseus?

Check out the new interview with scholar of classics Prof Joel Christensen, whose forthcoming book asks Why Odysseus?

🚨Available NOW to channel members and on general release this Sunday!

1 month ago | [YT] | 3

Dr. John Burton

Have you ever found some aspects of Woolf’s writing bewildering?

Moments where time suddenly slips, where a sentence seems to move from one consciousness to another. Where location, memory, sensation, and movement all blur together.

In Mrs Dalloway, Clarissa hears Big Ben strike and suddenly the narrative flows across London into the minds of strangers walking the streets.

In To the Lighthouse, an entire decade passes in the extraordinary “Time Passes” section almost without human presence at all, as wind, darkness, dust, and the empty house itself seem to become the protagonists.

And in The Waves, characters often feel less like separate individuals than shifting rhythms or voices moving in and out of one another like the sea itself.

I’ve just interviewed philosopher Thomas Nail about his fascinating new book The Philosophy of Virginia Woolf: Moments of Becoming, in which he argues that Woolf wasn’t simply experimenting with literary style. She was trying to show us a reality made not of fixed things, but of movement, flow, and interconnection.

The conversation is live now for channel members, and will be available for everyone on Sunday!

1 month ago | [YT] | 10

Dr. John Burton

🥳 It’s Shakespeare’s birthday (kind of)! Watch out this Sunday for an episode of The Scholar’s Archair where I’m joined by renowned scholar Darren Freebury-Jones to discuss Shakespeare’s influences and collaborators!

2 months ago | [YT] | 6

Dr. John Burton

🙋How did Jane Austen become the first female megastar of literature?
She only published anonymously and had a relatively small readership when she died. A chain of remarkable events (some of which happened in America) led to her becoming the most adored novelist of all time.

Joining me to explain the story is noted Austen scholar Professor Juliette Wells. The interview is available NOW for channel members, and will be available to all on Sunday 8:00 BST ☺️

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 9

Dr. John Burton

📆Coming up on The Scholar’s Armchair!
After the Easter break (which included trips to the Forest of Dean and Lancashire) here’s what’s coming up in the coming weeks, each episode goes live Sunday 8am BST

🧐How did Jane Austen go from little known author to international sensation? With Prof Juliette Wells (19th April)

🧐Was Shakespeare a lone genius or a collaborative team player? With Dr Darren Freebury-Jones (26th April)

🧐Why does George Orwell focus on small mundane details in his writing? With Prof Nathan Waddell (3rd May)

🧐Why don’t Shakespeare’s characters really listen to each other, and what happens when they do? With Prof Kent Lehnhoff (10th May)

2 months ago | [YT] | 11

Dr. John Burton

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! ☺️

If someone had told me two years ago today that my little corner of YouTube would have received almost a quarter of a million views, thousands of comments, thousands of subscribers, and a whole bunch of wonderfully insightful guests — I would not have believed it.

My ambition with the channel was to share literary insights and to generate thought and discussion about the big ideas behind the best books. Thanks to you, this wonderful experience has brought me a lot of joy and purpose.

This adventure continues! I have lots of incredible guests to interview for The Scholar’s Armchair lined up. We’ll be discussing everything from Jane Austen to George Orwell, from Shakespeare to Rilke.

THANK YOU for watching, commenting, subscribing and joining as a channel members. I appreciate every view and each comment!

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3 months ago | [YT] | 46

Dr. John Burton

Questions explored in the latest episode of The Scholar’s Armchair (https://youtu.be/soHNx8BHqbk):

What’s really involved in reading and interpreting a text?

Is literary theory something we impose on a text or something else?

What does it mean to get to a text’s ‘meaning’?

… all this and a LIVE cold reading of Rilke!

3 months ago | [YT] | 0

Dr. John Burton

Engaging, fascinating, insightful. Just three ways of describing my new interview with the brilliant Luis Othoniel Rosa.

4 months ago | [YT] | 1

Dr. John Burton

📣FRESH LITERARY INSIGHTS ABOUND!
UPCOMING INTERVIEWS for The Scholar’s Armchair:

💡Professor Luis Othoniel Rosa on ways of interpreting Frankenstein (and the Haitian revolution)

💡Professor Caroline Smith on female identities in magazines and food writing (including a discussion on Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar)

💡Dr Neil Cocks on close reading via Winnie the Pooh, Frozen, and other surprising diversions

💡Professor Amy Smith on the mythic in Virginia Woolf

🧐My ongoing conversations with these scholars promise fascinating interviews with fresh literary insights which will be available on the channel with audio versions on Spotify and Apple Podcasts (search ‘The Scholar’s Armchair’)🎧

✍️As always, comment below with any questions you may have for the experts

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5 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 8