Jan 21, 2010 | Latest
16th January. Finished what is probably the best book I have read in ten years, ‘Alone In Berlin’ by Hans Fallada. Finished it with tears streaming down my cheeks. 15th January. Went to the Black Box to hear Chris Mullin speak, part of the Cathedral Arts Quarter’s...
Jan 21, 2010 | Features
Thoroughly enjoyed Hitchen’s book, ‘God Is Not Great’. His arguments against all religions I found tempting and persuasive… though his uncurbed fanaticism and selectivity caused me to pause once or twice. Seán McGouran in the magazine ‘Church and State’...
Jan 14, 2010 | Latest
13th January. Reviewed the French gangster film, ‘A Prophet’, for BBC’s Arts Extra, having watched the film earlier in the day at a special screening in the QFT with fellow reviewer, crime writer and Queens lecturer Andrew Pepper. I couldn’t rave about the film as...
Jan 13, 2010 | Features
Two married academics – one English, one North American – end up teaching literature for a period in each other’s universities in an exchange scheme c.1969 where the clash of cultures is all too evident. The milieu is the student protests and occupations, the Vietnam...
Jan 4, 2010 | Features
I was attracted to this book – ‘Writing in the Dark: Essays on Literature and Politics’ by David Grossman – because these subjects are also two of my main interests. However, of the six essays, I found those on literature to be actually disappointing and...
