The Link Week Drop, Week 31, 2025.

XVII: Your Alternative (intervention) to the Social Media Feed.

Aug 03, 2025

Thanks to everyone who has recently subscribed to The Link Drop. If you enjoy this free publication, consider supporting my work through the ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ button. A small amount goes a long way in supporting my writing.

Buy Me A Coffee

I also publish SubStack’s The Ink-Stained Desk, a corner of the internet dedicated to all things reading, writing, and the transformative power of story. Regular features are Genre Genaology, Book Reviews, and Original Fiction. If this sounds like it might add value to your week, head over and take a look around.

The Ink-Stained Desk

This week on The Link Drop,

We consider the Booker Prize long list, find out about what new research has revealed about Chaucer’s poem, ‘The Song of Wade’, ask, ‘Why should adults have hobbies?’ and have a look at note-taking, Joan Didion style.

A Cambridge Professor On Why All Writing Sounds the Same Now.
By Jason Hellerman.
With disconnection and AI being high in the headlines, this week I came across this article that discusses both of these phenomena being the reason why all contemporary writing sounds homogenous these days. This article is a summary of the interview with Robert Macfarlane, as linked below. It’s a really great interview if you have the time to listen.

A Tiny Typo May Explain a Centuries-Old Mystery About Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ and ‘Troilus and Criseyde’.
By Christian Thorsberg.
Geoffrey Chaucer's mysterious references to a lost romantic poem, ‘The Song of Wade’, may finally have explanations! Researchers believe that correcting the typo changes the characters from magical creatures to human rivals, which aligns better with Chaucer's chivalrous allusions.

NOTE: Find another article about this discovery below. In my opinion, this second article, by Cambridge University, is a little more in-depth, zooming in to show you specific examples of the actual manuscript of what was mistranslated.

The Song of Wade.

Everything you need to know about the Booker Prize 2025 longlist.
No attribution, from The Booker Prizes website.
Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Reading groups and book clubs are making their way through the Booker Prize long list this year, countless of them on Substack if you care to join in. The above link will take you to the official long list page, which has links to information about the books and authors.

From The Booker Prizes Instagram page. Source.

JSTOR Readings This Week

Get your free JSTOR accounts at the ready! (No, this is not sponsored. I’m just so grateful to be able to read 100 academic articles a month for free and want to shout it from the rooftops!)

‘Wilde’s Renaissance: Poison, Passion, and Personality.’
In Victorian Literature and Culture, vol. 35, no. 2, 2007, pp. 517–36.
By Ivory, Yvonne.
Wilde believed that to realise one’s full potential, an individual must reject dominant social norms and embrace unconventional or even transgressive acts. This article argues that Wilde’s concept of individualism and self-development is deeply intertwined with his understanding of the Italian Renaissance; the connections Ivory makes are undeniable.
‘Haunted Houses.’
By Grider, Sylvia Ann, et al.
In Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore, University Press of Colorado, 2007, pp. 143–70.
This chapter (—I want to read this whole book, it looks fascinating!) traces the evolution of the haunted house from literary and folkloric motifs into a benign, stereotyped symbol used in everything from children's cartoons and Halloween marketing to theme park rides like Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. It also looks at how the haunted house has been shaped by both popular culture and oral traditions