Tag: Books and literature

Michael Longley: Literature should not be changed to remove ‘complexities’

By Cormac Campbell The poet Michael Longley has said that the “complexities and difficulties of literature” must not be simplified to fit changing outlooks. He was speaking after an event in his honour at Armagh’s Robinson Library marking his Feltrinelli International Prize for Poetry last year. At the event the 83-year-old reprised the lecture he… Read More Michael Longley: Literature should not be changed to remove ‘complexities’

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Such were the joys

Jacintha Buddicom and George Orwell were childhood soul mates who lost touch until he was dying. A new postscript to her genteel memoir sheds a disturbing light on their friendship, finds Kathryn Hughes Kathryn Hughes Eric & Us by Jacintha Buddicom From the late 1960s my family spent every weekend and most of the summer… Read More Such were the joys

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Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law

Reviewed by Aziz Rana Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law (CUP, 2021) At the heart of the post-World War II international order was a legitimating narrative premised on the idea that the world system was no longer imperial; it had now become a community of equal states. This meant that international law established… Read More Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law

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To Sanitize the Master’s Corpus: On the Heidegger Hoax

By Richard Wolin Martin Heidegger’s influence has been enormous. Richard Rorty once justifiably claimed that it would be impossible to write the intellectual history of the 20th century without acknowledging Heidegger’s titanic impact. But these tributes to Heidegger’s prodigious achievements are question-begging in one crucial respect: they neglect to consider what we are actually reading when… Read More To Sanitize the Master’s Corpus: On the Heidegger Hoax

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Ramachandra Guha’s book wins Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2023

Modern-day Brits have honoured historian Ramachandra Guha for a rather unusual book that is mainly about white Brits who were severely punished for going against the British establishment of their day to give their all for Indian independence. On Monday, Guha was in London to collect a £5,000 cheque for winning the highly regarded Elizabeth… Read More Ramachandra Guha’s book wins Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2023

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Vagueness: the linguistic virus in spoken language in the late 20th century

First posted October 26, 2011 Clark Whelton The decline and fall of American English, and stuff I recently watched a television program in which a woman described a baby squirrel that she had found in her yard. “And he was like, you know, ‘Helloooo, what are you looking at?’ and stuff, and I’m like, you… Read More Vagueness: the linguistic virus in spoken language in the late 20th century

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