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Papers by Toby Widdicombe

Research paper thumbnail of Margaret Atwood. Second ed

Research paper thumbnail of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Celebration

Dramatic reading of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with UAA English faculty: Toby Widdicombe, ... more Dramatic reading of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with UAA English faculty: Toby Widdicombe, Sharon Emmerichs, Jennifer Stone, and others

Research paper thumbnail of Celebrating Shakespeare Four Hundred Years On

English professors Toby Widdicombe and Sharon Emmerichs, UAA students, and staff share favorite S... more English professors Toby Widdicombe and Sharon Emmerichs, UAA students, and staff share favorite Shakespeare sonnets

Research paper thumbnail of J. K. Rowling: 14 Ways of Looking at Genius

An edited collection of 14 essays by students in Dr. Toby Widdicombe's Spring 2021 course on ... more An edited collection of 14 essays by students in Dr. Toby Widdicombe's Spring 2021 course on J. K. Rowling with a brief preface by the editor.Elsa Snodderly, “What Muggles and Magic Can Teach Us about Tolerance” Roslyn White, “An Examination of Abuse in the Harry Potter Septet” Jack Butto, “What Makes Harry Potter a Memorable Character?” Mackenzie Lindeman, “The Production of a Functioning Society” Charlene Ducut, “Sex, Sexuality, and Love in J. K. Rowling’s Septet” Melanie Brice, “Good versus Evil” Rosalie Makar, “Popularity of the Harry Potter Series” Tobias Horton, “The Best of the Best and the Worst of the Best” Stephanie Goens, “Colors of the Wizarding World” Stephanie Goens, “The Guardian of the Wizarding World” Heather Lee, “Muggles in a Wizard World” Phillip Granath, “Creation, Cliché, and Omission: The Sins of J. K. Rowling” Phillip Granath, “Azkaban and Alcatraz” Ashley Cook, “Ron Weasley and the Perspective of the Privileged” Works Cite

Research paper thumbnail of Aldous Huxley: A Biography

Research paper thumbnail of J. R. R. Tolkien

Research paper thumbnail of The Ohio Hegelians. History of American Thought, vols. 1-3. Vol. 1: The Temple of Truth. Vol. 2: The Earthward Pilgrimage. Vol. 3: The Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics, (second ed.)

Research paper thumbnail of The Jungle. The Uncensored Original Edition

Research paper thumbnail of Margaret Atwood. Second ed

Research paper thumbnail of Utopian Dreams: A Search for a Better Life

Research paper thumbnail of Continuity and change : the influence of transcendentalism on nineteenth-century American literature

Research paper thumbnail of Looking Backward 2000-1887 (review)

University of Toronto Quarterly, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Edward Bellamy: an annotated bibliography of secondary criticism

Choice Reviews Online, 1989

Research paper thumbnail of Why Is There Barbed Wire Around Eutopia?

Research paper thumbnail of Edward Bellamy’s Utopian Vision: An Annotated Checklist of Reviews

Research paper thumbnail of Margaret Atwood, Doughnut Holes, and the Paradox of Imagining

The answer is simple (we can imagine the future), but this apparent simplicity is deceptive, for ... more The answer is simple (we can imagine the future), but this apparent simplicity is deceptive, for the moment the need arises to define the term 'utopia', everything suddenly becomes alarmingly contingent. Imagination has its limits, and utopia becomes a term defined by absence. Lyman Tower Sargent, in his well-known essay 'The Three Faces of Utopianism Revisited', defines utopia as 'social dreaming'. Ernst Bloch, in his three-volume work 'Das Prinzip Hoffnung' (1952-1959), sees hope as a fundamental human drive. Ruth Levitas, in 'The Concept of Utopia' (1990), finds the desire for a better world as the central element in utopian thinking. Each of these definitions has considerable merit; each renders future thinking indeterminate. Sargent implies a communal element in utopian thinking. Bloch argues for the centrality of an emotion which by definition pushes fulfilment into an ever-postponed future. Levitas grounds her definition on another human emotion that can never be satisfied. When we look at Margaret Atwood's work as a means to ground these speculations and generalizations, we obviously move away from the first question ('Can the future be imagined?') to the second ('If so, how?').

Research paper thumbnail of Upton Sinclair. The Jungle. The Uncensored Original Edition.(Book review)

Research paper thumbnail of Coral Ann Howells. Margaret Atwood.(Book review)

Utopian Studies, Mar 22, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of A reader's guide to Raymond Chandler

Choice Reviews Online, 2001

Page 1. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler Toby Wi... more Page 1. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler Toby Widdicombe Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler This One W17H-LNO-80U6 Page 6. Page 7. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler ...

Research paper thumbnail of Utopia, historiography, and the paradox of the ever-present

Rethinking History, 2009

After describing the current crisis in historiography and defining utopianism, I look at theories... more After describing the current crisis in historiography and defining utopianism, I look at theories of history from a utopian perspective. I do so by examining three central concepts (historical rupture, historical erasure, and historical fictionality) by means of three utopian texts – Edward Bellamy's Looking backward (1888), Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale (1985), and Richard Gooch's America and the Americans

Research paper thumbnail of Margaret Atwood. Second ed

Research paper thumbnail of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Celebration

Dramatic reading of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with UAA English faculty: Toby Widdicombe, ... more Dramatic reading of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with UAA English faculty: Toby Widdicombe, Sharon Emmerichs, Jennifer Stone, and others

Research paper thumbnail of Celebrating Shakespeare Four Hundred Years On

English professors Toby Widdicombe and Sharon Emmerichs, UAA students, and staff share favorite S... more English professors Toby Widdicombe and Sharon Emmerichs, UAA students, and staff share favorite Shakespeare sonnets

Research paper thumbnail of J. K. Rowling: 14 Ways of Looking at Genius

An edited collection of 14 essays by students in Dr. Toby Widdicombe's Spring 2021 course on ... more An edited collection of 14 essays by students in Dr. Toby Widdicombe's Spring 2021 course on J. K. Rowling with a brief preface by the editor.Elsa Snodderly, “What Muggles and Magic Can Teach Us about Tolerance” Roslyn White, “An Examination of Abuse in the Harry Potter Septet” Jack Butto, “What Makes Harry Potter a Memorable Character?” Mackenzie Lindeman, “The Production of a Functioning Society” Charlene Ducut, “Sex, Sexuality, and Love in J. K. Rowling’s Septet” Melanie Brice, “Good versus Evil” Rosalie Makar, “Popularity of the Harry Potter Series” Tobias Horton, “The Best of the Best and the Worst of the Best” Stephanie Goens, “Colors of the Wizarding World” Stephanie Goens, “The Guardian of the Wizarding World” Heather Lee, “Muggles in a Wizard World” Phillip Granath, “Creation, Cliché, and Omission: The Sins of J. K. Rowling” Phillip Granath, “Azkaban and Alcatraz” Ashley Cook, “Ron Weasley and the Perspective of the Privileged” Works Cite

Research paper thumbnail of Aldous Huxley: A Biography

Research paper thumbnail of J. R. R. Tolkien

Research paper thumbnail of The Ohio Hegelians. History of American Thought, vols. 1-3. Vol. 1: The Temple of Truth. Vol. 2: The Earthward Pilgrimage. Vol. 3: The Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics, (second ed.)

Research paper thumbnail of The Jungle. The Uncensored Original Edition

Research paper thumbnail of Margaret Atwood. Second ed

Research paper thumbnail of Utopian Dreams: A Search for a Better Life

Research paper thumbnail of Continuity and change : the influence of transcendentalism on nineteenth-century American literature

Research paper thumbnail of Looking Backward 2000-1887 (review)

University of Toronto Quarterly, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Edward Bellamy: an annotated bibliography of secondary criticism

Choice Reviews Online, 1989

Research paper thumbnail of Why Is There Barbed Wire Around Eutopia?

Research paper thumbnail of Edward Bellamy’s Utopian Vision: An Annotated Checklist of Reviews

Research paper thumbnail of Margaret Atwood, Doughnut Holes, and the Paradox of Imagining

The answer is simple (we can imagine the future), but this apparent simplicity is deceptive, for ... more The answer is simple (we can imagine the future), but this apparent simplicity is deceptive, for the moment the need arises to define the term 'utopia', everything suddenly becomes alarmingly contingent. Imagination has its limits, and utopia becomes a term defined by absence. Lyman Tower Sargent, in his well-known essay 'The Three Faces of Utopianism Revisited', defines utopia as 'social dreaming'. Ernst Bloch, in his three-volume work 'Das Prinzip Hoffnung' (1952-1959), sees hope as a fundamental human drive. Ruth Levitas, in 'The Concept of Utopia' (1990), finds the desire for a better world as the central element in utopian thinking. Each of these definitions has considerable merit; each renders future thinking indeterminate. Sargent implies a communal element in utopian thinking. Bloch argues for the centrality of an emotion which by definition pushes fulfilment into an ever-postponed future. Levitas grounds her definition on another human emotion that can never be satisfied. When we look at Margaret Atwood's work as a means to ground these speculations and generalizations, we obviously move away from the first question ('Can the future be imagined?') to the second ('If so, how?').

Research paper thumbnail of Upton Sinclair. The Jungle. The Uncensored Original Edition.(Book review)

Research paper thumbnail of Coral Ann Howells. Margaret Atwood.(Book review)

Utopian Studies, Mar 22, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of A reader's guide to Raymond Chandler

Choice Reviews Online, 2001

Page 1. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler Toby Wi... more Page 1. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler Toby Widdicombe Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler This One W17H-LNO-80U6 Page 6. Page 7. A Reader's Guide to Raymond Chandler ...

Research paper thumbnail of Utopia, historiography, and the paradox of the ever-present

Rethinking History, 2009

After describing the current crisis in historiography and defining utopianism, I look at theories... more After describing the current crisis in historiography and defining utopianism, I look at theories of history from a utopian perspective. I do so by examining three central concepts (historical rupture, historical erasure, and historical fictionality) by means of three utopian texts – Edward Bellamy's Looking backward (1888), Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale (1985), and Richard Gooch's America and the Americans