11
votes
Accepted
Announcing the April 2017 Topic Challenge: "Hard to Be a God"
List of all questions posted as part of the April 2017 Topic Challenge
How do they decide who to save/bring to Earth in Hard to Be a God? by Swizzler
What details does the "Without Weapons" ...
11
votes
Do we want something akin to topic challenges for books outside our bailiwick, to help alleviate the book diversity problem?
I like it. I like it a lot. I look forward to seeing more Rūmī (13th-century Persian poet) and Albert Wendt (contemporary Samoan poet and novelist) on the site!
But I'd like to add that building a ...
- 4,890
8
votes
Do we want something akin to topic challenges for books outside our bailiwick, to help alleviate the book diversity problem?
Yes.
This is a Good Idea. I've taken part in the Puzzling FTCs, and they've opened up my puzzling to include stuff I never would have known about. This site needs diversity even more.
The trouble is, ...
MithicalMod
- 23.3k
8
votes
Monthly Topic Challenges aren't getting much attention. How can we change them?
Rather than replacing the topic challenges with something else, I would like to think about ways to attract more activity.
As others have pointed out, one of the "challenges" (sorry for the pun) is ...
- 44k
6
votes
Accepted
Announcing the August 2017 Topic Challenge: “Sophie's World”
List of all questions posted as part of the August 2017 Topic Challenge
Why is it important that 'Nowadays it's the girl who takes the initiative'? by Mithrandir
When did Sophie and ...
6
votes
Accepted
Announcing the July 2017 Topic Challenge: "I Am a Cat"
List of all questions posted as part of the July 2017 Topic Challenge
Why should a teacher's cat care less about human robbery? by Rand al'Thor
Does this passage in "I Am a Cat" ...
6
votes
Announcing the January–February 2022 topic challenge: R. A. Lafferty
(Sorry, too long for a comment.)
Lafferty short stories and novelettes which are freely available from Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, etc. (Starred stories are favorites of mine.)
"...
- 2,917
5
votes
Accepted
Announcing the June 2017 topic challenge: The SEA is Ours
List of all questions asked as a part of this challenge:
Were the contributors to "The SEA is Ours" all already established authors? by Rand al'Thor
Do the stories in "The SEA is Ours&...
5
votes
Accepted
Announcing the May 2017 topic challenge: Icelandic Sagas!
List of all questions asked as a part of this challenge:
What is a beacon? by Hamlet
Why is there so much legalese in Egil's Saga? by Matt Thrower
far too few :-(
The highest-voted of these is ...
5
votes
Accepted
Announcing the March 2019 reading challenge: Release the Sun, by William Sears
Unfortunately, no questions related to William Sears' Release the Sun were posted during the topic challenge. I hope we'll do better with the next one.
5
votes
New Literature SE Topic Challenge Suggestions Thread
The Works of Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a very influential and highly regarded Norwegian playwright. Wikipedia claims that he is the “most frequently performed dramatist in the world after ...
5
votes
Accepted
Announcing the November–December 2021 topic challenge: The Decameron
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
Do the young women and men of the Decameron represent the Virtues and sections of the soul? by Rand al'Thor, 04/11/2021 (3 votes, 21 views, no ...
5
votes
Announcing the July–August 2022 topic challenge: Ukrainian Literature
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
What is a "more bankable nationality"? by EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine on 01/07/2022
Was pigskin leather easier to acquire in the ...
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the October 2017 Topic Challenge: "A Grain of Wheat", by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
List of all questions posted as part of the October 2017 Topic Challenge:
Before reading "A Grain of Wheat," what historical facts and cultural context are useful to know? by Zyera
Meanings ...
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the August 2018 Topic Challenge: Nalo Hopkinson
List of all questions posted as part of the August 2018 Topic Challenge
Why are pronouns used in this way in Nalo Hopkinson's "Shift"? by Rand al'Thor
Why is the colour of Caliban's ...
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the April 2019 topic challenge: Jean Rhys
List of all questions posted in the April 2019 Topic Challenge
Did Jean Rhys recognize her fictional portrait in Ford Madox Ford's *When the Wicked Man*? by verbose
The highest-voted of these is ...
- 44k
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the Return of the Topic Challenges! Oct-Nov 2019: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Questions submitted during this challenge:
How can Gilgamesh be one-third man and two-thirds god? by Rand al'Thor (2 votes, ca. 70 views)
What does it mean that Gilgamesh "took" the people ...
- 44k
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the April–May 2020 topic challenge: The Stranger / Meursault
add entries in the form https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/<question-ID> by [username](https://literature.stackexchange.com/users/<user-ID>)
What is Meursault's problem ...
4
votes
New Literature SE Topic Challenge Suggestions Thread
Muhammad Iqbal
Muhammad Iqbal, sometimes called Allama Iqbal or Iqbal-e Lahori, was a 19th-to-20th-century Muslim multilingual poet, philosopher, and politician, one of the most important figures in ...
4
votes
New Literature SE Topic Challenge Suggestions Thread
Uyghur literature
In my tradition of taking jabs at authoritarian regimes, I would like to propose that we study Uyghur literature, a minority group in China that is currently heavily persecuted by ...
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the October–November 2020 topic challenge: Rabindranath Tagore
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
Why does the narrator in Tagore's story call the Cabuliwallah's daughter "Parbati"? by verbose, 05/10/2020 (self-answered on the ...
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the September–October 2021 topic challenge: Belarusian Literature
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
What is Krosyn? by EJoshuaS - Reinstate Monica, 01/09/2021 (5 votes, 1 answer).
What is the significance of the 40-year period referred to in this ...
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the January–February 2022 topic challenge: R. A. Lafferty
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
What is the appearance of the protagonist in Lafferty's "All the People"? by Rand al'Thor, 03/01/2022 (4 votes, 1 answer).
Who are ...
4
votes
Accepted
Announcing the February–March 2022 topic challenge: the works of Isaac Bashevis Singer
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
What happened at the end of "The Key" by Isaac Bashevis Singer? by Mithical, 01/02/2022 (4 votes, 48 views, 0 answers);
What do the ...
4
votes
Announcing the September–October 2022 topic challenge: Lasha Bugadze
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
Why did Zaza only "bid farewell" to the possibility of going to Moscow? by EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine on 8/9/2022 (24 views, 2 votes, ...
4
votes
Announcing the April–May 2023 topic challenge: the works of Abdulrazak Gurnah
List of all questions posted in this topic challenge
Why did Yusuf's father have a silver rupee in his pocket? by EJoshuaS - Stand With Ukraine, 04/04/2023.
Why did Gurnah title this story "...
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