From dressing-gown drudge to Man Booker winner
John Gross’s The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters: English Literary Life since 1800, a standard text for…
The theory wars have ended in stalemate
State-of-criticism overviews and assessments almost always strike a bleak note —the critical mind naturally angles towards pessimism — so it…
Fact, fiction or farce? The American comic novel is becoming increasingly hard to define
The American comic novel is going through an odd phase. Just lately it seems like anything funny must sneak in…
The soundtracked novel that won’t sit still
The Emperor Waltz is long enough at 600 pages to be divided, in the old-fashioned way, into nine ‘books’. Each…
J.K. Rowling is just too nice – and too lucky – to satirise publishing
J.K. Rowling’s second novel under the Robert Galbraith moniker is a whodunit set in the publishing industry. This isn’t a…
If you prefer banal symbols freighted with meaning to plot, Nicola Barker is your woman
Readers familiar with Nicola Barker’s hyper-caffeinated style will be surprised by the almost serene first few chapters of her latest…
The talent and tragedy of Richard Pryor
The troubles of Richard Pryor’s life are well known — from his childhood in a brothel to his self-immolation via…
Do Manet's asparagus remind you of your struggling long-term relationship?
In calling their book Art as Therapy Alain de Botton and John Armstrong have taken the direct route. They’re not…
The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer - review
Thick, sentimental and with a narrative bestriding four decades, Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings feels above all like a Victorian novel,…
A Bright Moon for Fools, by Jasper Gibson - review
Harry Christmas, the central character of this bitterly funny debut novel, is a middle- aged, overweight alcoholic, with no friends…
