Articles
Essays, reviews, and commentary on literature, history, politics, and ideas.
A Learning Curve
A German writer learns the cost of making a god of the nation
Educating Margaret
How Margaret Thatcher was persuaded to sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Intimate Oscillations
A poet’s odyssey ‑ from Dublin suburbs out into the world and back
Pagans, Snobs, Censors
Irish visual art and the vaunted uniqueness of our ‘spiritual heritage’
Intellectual Insurrection
The extraordinary range and tireless radical commitment of Edward Said
Not Like The Others
A pitch-perfect depiction of life as a teenage girl in 1980s Britain
The Pleasure Principle
A poet born to wealth and privilege whose gift miraculously survived
The World’s Doubleness
From the natural world to the grit and banality of everyday life
The Ghost Hunters
A literary treatment set in Florida of the classic ‘hero’s quest’ story
Belonging
The changing face of Ireland and the forces who are combating change
A Great Worker
The work which, 100 years ago, gave us the concept of the robot
The Bloody Crown
The factors driving violence in Co Kerry during the revolutionary period