Stefan Collini, "Literature and Learning: A History of English Studies in Britain" (Oxford UP, 2025)

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast · Aug 29, 2026 · 1h 19m

Literature and Learning: A History of English Studies in Britain (Oxford University Press, 2025) by Stefan Collini The study and teaching of English literature is generally regarded as one of the central disciplines in the modern university, yet for much of its history it struggled to gain academic legitimacy and was frequently derided as 'a soft option'. Its early professors responded by emphasizing its scholarly character, foregrounding philology and literary history in ways that marked the syllabus far into the twentieth century. Stefan Collini provides here the first full account of the…