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
The girl from Tennessee
Dolly Parton is the living embodiment of America’s best values, says Philip Hensher
You, the protagonist
When the estimable Andy Miller, the host of the Backlisted podcast, recommended a new collection of short stories on Twitter,…
Classic misconceptions
Harold Bloom devoted his life to literature – but he had little feeling for words, says Philip Hensher
A walk on the Wilde side
Philip Hensher admires a witty account of the horrors of modern film-making
Beyond Bayreuth
Wagner gripped the communal mind for decades after his death. Philip Hensher examines his enduring influence
Everyday exchanges
Conversation is a fascinating subject, says Philip Hensher – but very few people get it right
All Renaissance men now
With unlimited information just a click away, everyone can pass as a polymath today, says Philip Hensher
Surprises in store
In these circumstances there’s a temptation to reach for the longest novel imaginable. If you’re not going to read Proust…
Birds of a feather
Philip Hensher describes how Paris became a magnet for literary-minded lesbians in the early 20th century – where they soon caused quite a stir
A resounding success
Gustav Mahler was a passionate enthusiast for the colossal in music. Even so, his mighty eighth symphony stands apart, says Philip Hensher
A remarkable, common skill
Probably most of the world is bilingual, or more than bilingual. It is common in many countries to speak a…
Lydia Davis, like an inspirational teacher, tempts her readers into more reading
A good indicator of just how interesting and alluring Lydia Davis’s Essays proved might be my recent credit card statement.…
Vladimir Nabokov confesses to butterflies in the stomach
Not every novelist has opinions. Some of the greatest have a touch of the idiot savant, such as Adalbert Stifter,…
The concluding volume of Charles Moore’s life of Margaret Thatcher is – as its predecessors are – a triumph
This outstanding biography comes to an end, not in an atmosphere of triumph and achievement, but in a welter of…
Ian McEwan’s anti-Brexit satire is a damp squib
Kafka wrote a novella, The Metamorphosis, about a man who finds himself transformed into a beetle. Now Ian McEwan has…
No one held Susan Sontag in higher esteem than she did: Her Life reviewed
Towards the end of this tale of imperial intellectual expansion, Susan Sontag’s publicist goes to visit his shrink and, dealing…
America’s brutal borstals: The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead, reviewed
Novelists will always be interested in enclosed communities — or the ‘total institution’, as sociologists say. When you separate a…
Polari, the secret gay argot, is making a surprising comeback
Imagine you’re a gay man living in the year 1950. Not unnaturally, you would like to meet another gay man.…
Toy theatres on the stage: the set designs of Maurice Sendak
I must have seen hundreds of opera productions in my time. Out of these, hardly any made a lasting impression…
Not all British memsahibs were racist snobs
Despite efforts to prevent them, British women formed a part of the Indian empire almost from the start. Although the…
Time for a Tippett revival
Running the entire course of the 20th century, Michael Tippett’s life (1905–1998) was devoted to innovation. He was an English…
