Books
Why one of Renoir’s most celebrated paintings languished unloved
Relegated to a servants’ hall soon after it was finished, the double portrait ‘Pink and Blue’ may have been caught up in a swirl of rumours about its subjects’ mother
Unravelling the infinite mysteries of physics
DeepMind’s brilliant co-founder Demis Hassabis hopes to ‘create a machine that can occupy a position in the cosmos once ascribed to an all-powerful divinity’
Derided as ‘feminists’: the unsung witnesses of the Nuremberg trials
Of particular note was the lawyer Harriet Zetterberg, who compiled the case against Hans Frank, and Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, the first concentration camp survivor to testify
A dying fall: The Last Movement, by Robert Seethaler, reviewed
Gustav Mahler looks back on the pleasures and pains of the past from the windblown deck of SS Amerika on his final journey across the Atlantic
The typo that spelled death in the Soviet Union
When Pravda Vostoka misprinted Joseph Stalin’s military rank on 25 October 1944, most of the print run was destroyed and the editorial team was shot
‘A lost generation’: My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, by Deborah Levy, reviewed
Stein coined the phrase to describe the disillusioned writers and artists she mentored – but it is the woman herself who proves most elusive
The cormorant – symbol of gluttony and the Devil
Gordon McCullan explores the representation in art and literature over the centuries of a much maligned bird
A deadly imitation game: the fate of the British teenager who posed as a Russian oligarch’s son
Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the mystery of Zac Brettler’s fall from the balcony of a luxury riverside apartment into the Thames one November night in 2019
Motherless friends: Kin, by Tayari Jones, reviewed
In the Jim Crow American south, two girls are left to make their own way in life, one more successfully than the other
Singing of arms and the man: Son of Nobody, by Yann Martel, reviewed
Fragments emerge of an epic poem describing the Trojan War from the viewpoint of an ordinary soldier, in it for the loot
Landscapes of longing in illuminated Books of Hours
Recalling his lonely childhood in New Zealand, Christopher de Hamel describes how his enduring love of medieval manuscripts took root
Defiantly creative to the end: the transgressive Dorothea Tanning
Born in Illinois in 1910 in the middle of a hurricane, the experimental Surrealist became the model of the fiercely independent artist
How the paralysed Franz Rosenzweig continued to translate the Bible
After being struck down by a neurodegenerative disease at the age of 36, the inspirational scholar pursued his biblical project with the twitch of one thumb
Self-betterment through contemplation of the Seven Deadly Sins
Medieval minds wrestled with Sloth especially, and the debilitating ‘acedia’ we would call depression, for which one cure was to ‘find yourself a strong mountain’
Rebarbative relatives abound: The Palm House, by Gwendoline Riley, reviewed
Even Riley’s most exasperating characters seem desperate for a quiet sanctum of their own
The harm of dwelling on a traumatic past
The important thing is to navigate life in such a way that you are not consumed by painful memories, says the psychiatrist Gwen Adshead
Is private equity secretly running your life?
Hettie O’Brien delivers a broadside against the elusive financial force that owns almost 10 per cent of the UK economy
Living in the shadow of Etna
The myriad businesses thriving in the volcano’s rich soil and varying microclimates can be destroyed in a matter of minutes, as Helena Attlee reminds us
Only prigs and bores could object to the incongruity of Portmeirion
With its colonnade, campaniles and ice-cream colours, Clough Williams-Ellis’s fantasy brings a touch of the Italian Riviera to north Wales
Cold wars
The US military might be the most powerful in the world but it has fallen dangerously behind in one of…
Why the General Strike of 1926 could never succeed
Most Britons were content with their lot and could not be mobilised to revolution, while divisions in the TUC itself betrayed a lack of commitment to the cause
Expect toddlers and parlour games at today’s dinner parties
The cost of babysitters can make accepting dinner invitations very expensive, so a host should ensure that friends feel free to bring their children too, says Jago Rackham
Who wants to bring back the Neanderthals?
The wholesale ‘de-extinction’ of vanished human species is one of many ethically dicey possibilities in the not-too-distant future, says Adrian Woolfson
Tradecraft secrets: a choice of crime fiction
Spy thrillers from James Wolff and Alex Preston reviewed. Plus: a third Rilke novel from Louise Welsh and a rediscovered classic from Duff Cooper
The dilemmas and difficulties of artists through the ages
In his analysis of 20 masterpieces from prehistory to the present, Lachlan Goudie proves a born guide to the creative process
