Chaucer
The first-century saint who went viral
Laura Freeman considers how artists have depicted one of the strangest and most touching of the Stations of the Cross
A bubo-busting muckfest: Hurdy Gurdy, by Christopher Wilson, reviewed
In an essay for Prospect a few years back the writer Leo Benedictus noticed how many contemporary novels used what…
The many faces of William ‘Slasher’ Blake
‘Imagination is my world.’ So wrote William Blake. His was a world of ‘historical inventions’. Nelson and Lucifer, Pitt and…
Is a cow always a cow?
I’ve noticed a tendency among townies like me to call all cattle cows (which they feel they must mention in…
Rain, shine and the human imagination — from Adam and Eve to David Hockney
‘Pray don’t talk to me about the weather, Mr Worthing,’ pleads Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. ‘Whenever people…
Dickens’s dark side: walking at night helped ease his conscience at killing off characters
James McConnachie discovers that some of the greatest English writers — Chaucer, Blake, Dickens, Wordsworth, Dr Johnson — drew inspiration and even comfort from walking around London late at night
Who needs drugs when you have Radio 3?
I’m willing to bet it’s only on the BBC’s Radio 3 that you’ll find yourself listening to a programme quite…
Look! Shakespeare! Wow! George Eliot! Criminy! Jane Austen!
Among the precursors to this breezy little book are, in form, the likes of The Story of Art, Our Island…
Do women want what they say they want?
What do women want? You might have thought the Wife of Bath had got this one sorted, but Daniel Bergner…
