Literature

Public life is becoming uglier, duller and more soul-destroying

The true scale of his legacy is gradually becoming apparent

We need more respect for the childhood imagination

Now languishing in undeserved obscurity, Tobias Smollett should be remembered

Ian McEwan has always tempered his shocking stories with polished prose

Politics is degrading our cultural classics

The German obsession with Goethe’s Faust and Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Russian literature is not bound to Russian politics

The bookish thrill of recognising the literary references of the pop artists you love

Hay is the place to go for a literary harvest