The United Nations and its Responsibility to Protect
In a few months the UN will be sixty-seven years old. Fifty-one countries joined in 1945. Today there are one…
The Consolations of Music: Così fan tutte
OPERA Così fan tutte, ossia La Scuola degli amanti (1790), Opera Holland Park, Holland Park, London, with the City…
Fog Returns to Channel
NON-FICTION The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain, Ian Jack, Vintage, 320pp, £9.99 (paperback) Being British: What’s Wrong with…
Akseli Gallen-Kallela and the Kalevala
PAINTING Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931): A Finnish Passion Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, 1 June-9 September 2012 (Previously at Helsinki Art Museum…
Between a Craft and a Calling
FICTION Infinity: The Story of a Moment, Gabriel Josipovici, Carcanet Press, 128pp, £12.95 (paperback) Infinity: The Story of a…
Sylvia, Shakespeare and Shamans
POETRY Poet and Critic: The Letters of Ted Hughes and Keith Sagar, edited by Keith Sagar, The British Library,…
A Chinese Bail-Out
HISTORY Escape from Hong Kong: Admiral Chan Chak’s Christmas Day Dash 1941, Tim Luard, Hong Kong University Press, 320pp,…
The War Is Far from Finished: A Trio of Books about Iraq
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Setback of the Century: 11 September Cracks on the Mirrors of the Iraq War, Fatih Abdulsalam, Xlibris,…
The Legacy of Catullus: Did a Prayer to a Vestal Virgin ‘Save’ his Naughty Bits?
The Latin poet Catullus, an acquaintance of Julius Caesar, lived thirty years or longer between 84 BC and no…
Life after Hungary
They say a Hungarian can go into a revolving door behind you and come out in front, and it…
Meeting Robert Graves
In the summer of 1970, when driving around Majorca, I stopped for a few days in the remote coastal village…
Fear of the Self: Japanese Literature’s Tragic Hero
Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, or to follow Western appellative conventions, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, is one of Japan’s literary institutions. His stories are studied…
Invisible Influences: Eardley Knollys, Frank Coombs and the Storran Gallery in the 1930s
When Eardley Knollys bought the Storran Gallery in central London in spring 1936 with Frank Coombs as his partner…
Delius: The Reluctant Englishman
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring sounds like a perfect celebration of the English countryside. In fact, its…
The Welsh Poppy Flame of the Sun: A Tribute to Raymond Garlick
Raymond Garlick, who died in Cardiff on 19 March 2011, was an important and influential figure in support of…
The Courage of the Conquistador: Sigmund Freud and the Mapping of the Unconscious
Since I have been studying the unconscious I have become so interesting to myself. A pity that one keeps…
Afghanistan: Mara Yod Ast
A lyrical depiction of the country before it was ravaged by war
A Gatsby Master Class in London’s Theatres
With the film on the way, Gatsby is re-imagined in London’s theatres
In the Cinema Lobby
1. I was standing in the lobby of my mind on the tiled floor beneath the colonnade, the marble, the…
Chemin de Fer
Casinos from Kowloon to Baden-Baden Serve our breakfast on a silver griddle – We who prop by night the gaming…
Green Wine
He tempts her with Portugal in spring – I can’t, she says, not having stayed before in a hotel with…
Keeping Time
There’s an edgy scent of winter in the air, of chrysanthemums, azaleas, wood-smoke, frost. Music flows through the drawing-room and…
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