The confrontational genius of Martin Amis
Martin Amis had impeccable timing, as anyone who looks at his sentences, paragraphs, chapters, books ought to admit. He died…
A veil of obscurity
Philip Hensher discusses how words relating to women’s ordinary experiences have been shrouded in euphemism over the centuries
Children of humanity
Philip Hensher admires the humanists of the past, and finds them consistently kinder, more decent and generous than their contemporaries
In the steps of the Master
Philip Hensher follows Noël Coward from precocious childhood to the vortex of fame
‘Not really big on books’
What makes the Duke of Sussex believe he can lead a charge against practitioners of the written word, wonders Philip Hensher
Sunken wreck
A great talent is wasted in Cormac McCarthy’s meandering tale of a mysterious plane crash and its aftermath, says Philip Hensher
His own worst enemy
The Radetzky March must be one of the dozen greatest European novels – but its author was frighteningly unpleasant, says Philip Hensher
What bow – and why is it burning?
‘Jerusalem’ may be our unofficial national anthem, but don’t ask anyone who sings it to tell you what it means, says Philip Hensher
The intense Englishness of Philip Larkin
The English language has a curious feature, called the phrasal verb. It consists of a plain verb plus a preposition;…
Will the world forsake him?
Cracks are beginning to appear in T.S. Eliot’s once unassailable reputation, says Philip Hensher
More fevered speculation
Royal gossip is largely invented, says Philip Hensher – but Tina Brown repeats it regardless
From the Gauls to the Gilets Jaunes
Philip Hensher is enthralled by Graham Robb’s evocative new history of France
Force of nature
Philip Hensher describes how John Constable’s energy and imagination freed British art from the constraints of the past
Once upon a time, long, long ago
Philip Hensher explores the origins of fairy tales
The bourgeois surrealist
René Magritte’s life, so outwardly respectable, was as full of surprises as his art, says Philip Hensher
A tantalising mystery
‘Victorian’ stuck, and ‘Edwardian’ too. But ‘Georgian’, as an adjective associated with the next monarch in line, never caught on.…
Let there be life
Philip Hensher finds this year’s Booker shortlist more concerned with serious world issues than vivid characterisation
A thankless task
The final volume of Peter Ackroyd’s History of England feels like a dutiful exercise carried out in a hurry, says Philip Hensher
A fevered mind
Philip Hensher finds Robert Burton’s perception of the world and the human condition endlessly fascinating
A fully engaged life
From Bengali schoolboy to citizen of the world – Amartya Sen’s autobiography is a joy, says Philip Hensher
Still funny after all these years
A new biography of William Hogarth pays dutiful homage to his satirical genius but does not challenge its predecessors, writes Philip Hensher
The great rule breaker
Philip Hensher describes D.H. Lawrence’s restless search of a new way of life
Less than angelic
Vicars, tea parties and village fetes were a far cry from Barbara Pym’s early enthusiasms, Philip Hensher reveals
Sense without sensibility
Philip Hensher feels he should be on Jordan Peterson’s side, but finds it a struggle
A thoroughly modern Romantic
Keats is a much stranger poet than we tend to realise – who shocked his first readers by his vulgarity and gross indecency, says Philip Hensher
