Latest Blogs
Get thee behind me
For centuries he had found work for idle hands, and his picture book was becoming increasingly popular. Then, at the end of the seventeenth century, some people started saying he didn’t exist.
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.
D’Annunzio biography takes Johnson prize
Britain’s major prize for non-fiction has been won by a biography of the Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio.