Dostoevsky’s novels as classic tragedies

Our Common Cultural Heritage — Classic Novels and English Television

Modern media have used the novel as a source for drama from the beginning. The production companies responsible for reproducing 'classic novels' have been attracted not just by the ready-made plots and characters, but also, perhaps especially in British film and television, 1 by the status of canonical texts that have a virtually unassailable currency in terms of cultural value. Indeed these tw...

Tragedies to Come

A book on the Mary Bell case acts, once again, as a depressing reminder that psychiatric facilities for children and adolescents are dangerously inadequate and that, until we devote enough resources and mobilise the right skills, further tragedies may still occur. Gitta Sereny's clear and readable book* will help many people, who had only the Press accounts to guide them, to make some sense of ...

Speech deficits as plot devices in novels.

1. Justman S. Placebos in the clinic. J R Soc Med 2013; 106: 208–9. 2. Howick J, Bishop FL, Heneghan C, et al. Placebo use in the United Kingdom: results from a national survey of primary care practitioners. PloS One 2013; 8: e58247. 3. Miller FG and Kaptchuk TJ. The power of context: reconceptualizing the placebo effect. J R Soc Med 2008; 101: 222–225. 4. Cook IA, Witte EA, Morgan M, et al. Ch...

The Tragedy of Tragedies

Symmetric Tragedies: Commons and Anticommons

An anticommons problem arises when there exist multiple rights to exclude. In a lengthy law review paper, Michael A. Heller has examined "The Tragedy of the Anticommons," especially in regard to disappointing experiences with efforts to shift from socialist to market institutions in Russia. In an early footnote, Heller suggests that a formal economic model of the anticommons has not been develo...