Cuisine versus Cucina
The French can be very high and mighty about their slow-cooked tripe in the manner of Caen, but there’s more to Italian cooking than red sauce, Elizabeth David insisted.
-
-
Oh my God, not a recovery please
If we are indeed very slowly, very hesitatingly, and with no guarantees, coming out of the worst of our economic depression, everyone will be very happy – except the intellectuals.
-
Themmens get everything
A wide river can separate people on either bank. It has also been known, from time to time, to keep them safe.
-
A Gulf not a Channel
The English do not understand the French, or at any rate didn’t until the master thinkers of structuralism and poststructuralism began to invade their universities.
-
Sterne at 300
The publication of Tristram Shandy, an anti-novel that became a model for many more, transformed him from an obscure country clergyman into the toast of London.
-
Two Cheers for Democracy
A new book by David Runciman argues that democracies are superior to autocracies when it comes to riding out crises. Perhaps, but are they any longer fully democratic?
-
Letter from Dr Zareer Masani
The author of a biography of Macaulay replies to criticism in a recent review.
-
It’s polyphony, but with a murder
Tipperary writer Donal Ryan’s novel is one of four which, together with one non-fiction title, have been nominated for the Guardian First Book award.
-
An Unoffending Refusal
A refusal can often offend, but this is less likely to be the case when it’s written in verse and composed by Margaret Atwood.
-
Prix Goncourt winner
France’s most prestigious literary prize has been awarded to Pierre Lemaitre, a writer previously best known for his crime novels.