literature

A journey through popular and ancient literature, from all corners of the globe.

Friday 5th August

Derick Thomson at 90: Gaelic poet in the world

David Hayes, 5 August 2011

Ruaraidh MacThòmais (Derick Thomson) has as poet, scholar, teacher and editor made a profound contribution to Gaelic literature over six decades. The quality and range of his work deserve belated recognition in the context of the culture he has done so much to enlarge, says David Hayes.

Monday 1st August

The geometry and arithmetic of exile: a Russian writer’s view

Oleg Yuriev, 1 August 2011

What happens to a writer when he is no longer surrounded by his own language and reality? Emigres, exiles use a kind of cunning to adapt and continue functioning as writers, but they have to make so many adjustments that some fall silent. Oleg Yuriev examines some famous literary exiles to consider his own position and attitudes to literature in his former country.

Tuesday 24th May

Bob Dylan at 70: revolution in the head, revisited

David Hayes, 24 May 2011

The most influential and original musician of the 1960s generation remains a figure of protean creativity half a century on. The wealth of attention devoted to Bob Dylan as he reaches his 70th birthday is testament to a career of astonishing range. It also reflects the complex legacy of a formative decade which Dylan’s songs and persona helped to define, says David Hayes.

Monday 23rd May

Bob Dylan: a conversation

David Hayes, 23 May 2011

The celebrations of the 70th birthday of the great American musician Bob Dylan include many personal journeys through the archives of memory. Here, David Hayes recalls a thrilling series of concerts Dylan performed in 1981...and a late-night encounter.

Monday 5th July

Voznesensky: elegy for a fashionable poet

Elena Fanailova, 5 July 2010

The poet Andrei Voznesensky died on 1 June. One of the former “big 4” Soviet poets, he managed to hang on to his cult status until the 1990s as that of the outspoken Joseph Brodsky rose ever higher. The poet Elena Fanailova reviews his position in the pantheon of Soviet writers and assesses his contribution to Soviet and Russian poetry.

Friday 4th June

Lev Tolstoy: world literature’s first pop star

Oleg Yuriev, 4 June 2010

Relief at being freed from the deadening Soviet tradition of grandiose literary anniversaries, and socialist realism’s didactic canonization of the Tolstoyan panoramic novel may have something to do with the comparatively muted Russian response to this year’s centenary of Lev Tolstoy’s death. But world literature’s first pop star still shines undimmed

Tuesday 16th March

Arthur Koestler: 20th century man

Masha Karp, 16 March 2010

Arthur Koestler, whose turbulent life charts the intellectual history of the 20thc in the West, has finally found a worthy biographer in Michael Scammell. A youthful communist and survivor of Franco’s prisons, Koestler developed into one of the West’s most persuasive crusaders against communism.

Thursday 25th February

A 'dishonesty of the conscientious': Gordon Brown’s tragedy

Christopher Harvie, 25 February 2010

The literature of human fall and frailty illuminates the political fate of Britain’s prime minister.

Thursday 18th February

Beirut and contradiction: reading the World Press Photo award

Mai Ghoussoub, 18 February 2010

The writer and Saqi publisher died on 17 February 2007. Her last article - on Beirut - is here. Plus: memory trio, and life journey

Monday 19th October

The posthumous victory of socialist realism

Olga Martynova, 19 October 2009

Anatoly Yar-Kravchenko: Maxim Gorki reads his fairy tale "A girl and death" to Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov on 11.11.1931 (painted in 1949)

Socialist realism, the old Soviet literary canon, has come to dominate the literary scene once more, laments the distinguished literary critic, Olga Martynova

Thursday 15th October

Lifewriting: Herta Müller’s journey

Lyn Marven, 15 October 2009

The German-Romanian recipient of the Nobel literature prize eludes readers, media - and translators

Sunday 4th October

Russian Poet’s eye on Londongrad

Tatyana Shcherbina, 4 October 2009

A Russian poet’s eye on returning to Londongrad, where imperial decline is woven into everyday life

Tuesday 25th August

Far Away from Moscow

Masha Karp, 25 August 2009

17 years ago Susan Richards embarked on her journey deep into provincial Russia. What she finds is often surprising, sometimes hilarious, sometimes depressing, but her friendships enable her to see much more than foreigners ordinarily would, says Masha Karp

Wednesday 11th March