Tag: art&lit

Contemporary, abstract art is either appreciated or mocked. Picture yourself in a reputable art gallery, surrounded by timeless, priceless High Renaissance paintings and Pre-Raphaelites; their composition, their techniques and the explicit narrative are utterly exquisite. Imagine your gaze transitioning upwards and landing upon the spectacular Rembrandt ‘The Night Watch”. Its immense, almost overwhelming size, occupies […]

If just one image epitomizes Trump’s recently concluded tour of Asia, it will be this one: a photo that captures a blockish Yank unceremoniously dumping food into a Japanese goldfish pond, the hosts hiding their horror behind gritted smiles. This was cheap fodder for the liberal media, who quickly lambasted Trump for everything from his […]

Since Documenta 14 departed from Athens in mid-July, there has been little done to support the foundations laid by this contemporary art celebration and address the issues highlighted. As the summer months roll on, Athenians have begun to leave the mainland for their summer holidays, as one is incapacitated by the stagnant heat. “Nothing happens […]

‘milk and honey’, Kaur’s debut poetry collection, is one of few commercially popular works of poetry in recent years. This is not to say that no other significant or impressive collections of contemporary poetry have been published, but rather that no other has achieved such global popularity. Upon publication, ‘milk and honey’ sold over 1.5 […]

Since 13 Reasons Why launched as a Netflix adaptation, the story of a teenage girl’s suicide and the subsequent blame-game has been a popular point of discussion. Jay Asher’s New York Times bestseller by the same name tells a very similar story: 17 year old Hannah Baker takes her life and leaves behind a set […]

A derisive critique of one of India’s greatest pastimes – cricket – and a powerful satire that deconstructs the deep-rooted ironies of India’s post-modern society, Selection Day is a fictional novel by Aravind Adiga, an Indo-Australian writer and journalist, appearing in paperback for the first time in September 2016. Through the story of two young […]

Juliet Heslewood is an independent art historian who believes that pictures can be read; for her, a painting provides as much of a narrative as a novel, telling stories about the artist’s life, as well as about the painted characters. Her recent lecture at the Ashmolean Museum, ‘The Lover Captured’, offered but one example of […]

Relentless, unique and wildly engaging, City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg is an epic character study set in 1970s New York, a city becoming rapidly enveloped in mystery and descending into chaos. The narrative details the interlinking lives of an intimate group of New Yorkers over a six-month period beginning on New Year’s Eve […]

J.G.Ballard’s High Rise tells the story of the residents of a luxurious forty-storey high-rise. They begin acting out petty grievances but these small acts soon culminate in vivid acts of violence. The start out dropping glass bottles onto each other’s cars and having lots of loud parties, but by the end they have descended into […]

I was lucky enough to see Irvine Welsh speak at the Cambridge Literary Festival a few weeks ago. Now based in Chicago, he was visiting the UK in promotion of his latest novel, The Blade Artist, and, as he told me afterwards, to attend a few key meetings about the production of Trainspotting 2. It […]

All she left you was fragments Of broken prose, a fleeting note of Emotion, as she ran out of your light Because space can choke too And your hands were unsteady When you played with dolls You had her make your bed But she was quick to shake off The smell of your detergent He […]

While the 400th anniversary of Shakepeare’s death has received a lot of attention recently, Charlotte Brontë’s 200th birthday has been overlooked by comparison. To compensate, here is a run-down of four of the best screen adaptations of her seminal novel Jane Eyre, so you know which DVD to reach for in order to celebrate in […]

Ruth and her husband Mark leave London after he is accused of watching child porn, hoping to find peace in the country. Instead, they find a miracle: the only spot in rains a future, drought-stricken England. What’s more, this book is approved by Richard and Judy, and who could help but trust those friendly faces? […]

It’s winter when he goes back to Oxford – perhaps it’s been winter since he left – and they meet at the gate of the Botanic Gardens, where Ted has his hands in his pockets and is looking twice his size. Ted says, “You took your time, Denny. I’ve been waiting seventy years.” He laughs […]