Articles
Essays, reviews, and commentary on literature, history, politics, and ideas.
When More is Less
This colossal volume of Heaney’s poems ‘almost disguises the fact that he is a poet by entombing his lyric in a mass of annotation, exegesis and “uncollected” poems’.
Massacre in Dunblane
He never married, had no children, lived alone. He had few friends, and kept none for long. He ran a small DIY shop and was a keen photographer. He was also interested in guns.
John McGahern’s World
The deliberate blurring of inside and outside is central to McGahern’s vision, the writer at once being absorbed in his surroundings and yet stepping back to articulate what goes without saying on the daily round.
The Slaughter of the Trees
A new poem by James Harpur
Rereadings 2: Dreyfus Returns
Ruth Harris reflects on her prize-winning study of the notorious Dreyfus case, ‘The Man on Devil’s Island’, and discovers new, fascinating parallels with our times.
The Odd Couple
A new study of the intense rivalry between Charlie Haughey and Garret FitzGerald suggests it may have ended up being a force for good for the country as a whole.
Getting One’s Hands Dirty
Must politics be kept separate from morals or can they be reconciled?
Are we there yet?
Arthur Balfour’s remark on the Irish Free State, ‘What was the Ireland the Free State took over? It was the Ireland we made’; a verdict that contained more than a grain of truth. But it was not the whole story.
Illicit Love
A new study explores the lives of queer men in Dublin between the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 and the dawn of gay liberation in the early 1970s.
Slouching towards Bethlehem
France in the 1930s was not, as some historians once claimed, immune to fascism. But the movements that did exist, based on the Italian rather than the German model, were both disunited and meagrely supported.
Self-Unbecoming
Palpable from Rob Doyle’s debut on has been an empathy unconstrained by moralising or any craving for peer approval. He gives us is, not ought.
The Rise of Miserablism
Another look at the rise and fall of modern Britain from the postwar ‘golden age’ to the decay that set in following the ‘winter of discontent’ of the late 1970s.