A study of isolation: The Late Americans, by Brandon Taylor, reviewed
A group of students in Iowa City meet in bars and seminar rooms, but, separated by class, race and wealth, their connection is only fleeting
The lonely passions of Emily Hale and Mary Trevelyan
Tom Williams describes how two women’s hopes of marrying T.S. Eliot came to nothing
The price of courage: On Java Road, by Lawrence Osborne, reviewed
Lawrence Osborne’s novels are easy to admire. They tend to deal with characters trapped in morally questionable situations and their…
The year of living decisively: The Turning Point, by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, reviewed
We tend to think of turning points as single moments of change — Saul on the road to Damascus or…
Gay abandon: Filthy Animals, by Brandon Taylor, reviewed
What does it mean to be a body in this world? It’s the question animating Brandon Taylor’s Filthy Animals. Our…
Apostle of modernism: Clive Bell’s reputation repaired
Clive Bell is the perennial supporting character in the biographies of the Bloomsbury group. The husband of Vanessa Bell, brother-in-law…
Wordsworth may have been partially eclipsed by his fellow Romantics, but his life was far from dull
Wordsworth’s reputation has been too long in decline, says Tom Williams. In the space of a decade he transformed English poetry, and his earlier works remain astonishing
Philip Marlowe’s last case? Only to Sleep, by Lawrence Osborne, reviewed
Only to Sleep is the third Philip Marlowe novel written by someone other than Raymond Chandler and while the authors…
