Fiction
Writing outside the box
Elena Ferrante’s essay collection is an exploration of the delights and constraints of form
A return, a reissue, a brilliant new voice
The best, and the not-so-great, new fiction to read this month
On and off the road
Jack Kerouac’s reputation should rest on his whole oeuvre — not just his most famous novel
The Critic Books Podcast: Edgware Road
A debut story of family mystery and intrigue — set between London, Oxford, and Karachi
Will the real Elena Ferrante please sit down?
It is her words and voice, not her purported identity, that matter to her fans
The Critic Books Podcast: Devotion
A story of love in nineteenth century Prussia and Australia
The Critic Books Podcast: Burntcoat
Burntcoat was one of the first “pandemic novels” to be published in the wake of Covid-19
Fuccboi: a load of modern toss
A failed American Psycho for the PornHub generation
The Critic Books Podcast: Mrs Death Misses Death
Salena Godden is in conversation with Francesca Peacock
Tales of helping and helplessness
This selection of new fiction is marked by both novelty and tradition
Sunak, false equivalence and the phantom far right
There is no comparison between the threat of Islamism and the threat of the far right
History will judge us on gender
How can the modern world tolerate such absurdity?
The BBC should remember what it’s for
A public broadcaster should exist for truthful journalism, not fashionable pieties
Giving noticing a bad name
Observing factual differences is not the same as leaping to conclusions
God save The Kinks
How did four ornery lads rearing up from the post-war English underclass become national treasures?
A great conductor leaves the stage
No conductor from China or Japan ever commanded world orchestras before Seiji Ozawa, and none has since matched his impact
Dumbing down the priesthood
Unless the Church reinstates rigorous college-based training for clerics, it will wither away
Don’t forget Nicola Sturgeon’s nodding dogs
The SNP have been enabled by uncritical British media
The untalented Mx. Ripley
In a story of a fiendishly successful performance, Eliot Sumner proved an extremely unconvincing man
Why the Intellectual Dark Web has failed
Internet ideologues have yet to formulate a coherent vision to turn their ideas into action
There is a lushness to this expanded Letters
There is frequent reporting of local news, often betraying a hobbit-like
preoccupation with the availability of beer
