Books

From Celtic fringe to Bible belt

Forcing the reader to slow down and sink in deeper

The rise and fall of English Lit.

Oxford showed little enthusiasm for its national language and the literature that followed

Time to start a new chapter

The rapid decline of reading should set alarm bells ringing at the Ministry of Education

Maker’s dozen

The buildings that forged Christian communities still powerfully impact them

Goethe, a man of ideas

Even to list the academic fields in which he was a pioneer is exhausting

Wrangling over the writings of a rogue

Are we right to be amused by the diary of a sexual predator?

Will “they” catch on?

Pronouns are far too interesting to be left to trans activists on either side

Lyrical wormholes into the past

A powerful evangelist for poetry, without a coherent proposition about English identity

What happened to literary politicians?

The decline of literary statespeople is a symptom of the decline of politics

A heavyweight companion for life

Music’s vast dismembered brocade enchants practitioners and listeners alike