Novels
Reinvention and rediscoveries
An actress turned author, a Kafkaesque fantasy and a 1960s re-release stir the imagination
Prize-winner reprises and rediscovered tales
From Young Mungo to The Candy House: three new novels to read this month
Should we take Kingsley Amis more seriously as a poet?
The acclaimed novelist harboured dreams of writing verse
Do we really need so many stage adaptations of novels?
There’s much that can go wrong when the drama of a book is transferred to the stage
TB or not TB: the literature of consumption
No infectious disease has left its scars on the body of literature like tuberculosis
Tales of helping and helplessness
This selection of new fiction is marked by both novelty and tradition
Male authors: the sun also sets
Give up writing, men – the world will be a happier place when you do
The Critic Books Podcast: Learwife
The first episode of The Critic Books Podcast: in conversation with J. R. Thorp.
The fundamental truths of fiction
Kit Wilson says the slow atrophy of the English novel is contributing to a decline in empathy and the rise of tribalism, trolling and “stay in your lane” identity politics
Satire needs to find new targets
There are still plenty of institutions worth mocking
The moral blindness of Putin’s generals
Russia’s murderous tactics to “de-Nazify” Ukraine have made its military leaders doppelgängers for the senior officers who executed Hitler’s evil plans
A “speak out champion” who won’t speak for all
Politics and prosecution make for a dangerous combination, and women are most likely to lose out
Grace in the face of prejudice
Gwendolyn Brooks’s Maud Martha has been published in Britain for the first time
The Realist bogeyman
Everyone likes to shoot the messenger and nobody likes to hear “I told you so”
I’m done with po-faced politicians
We have long since lost the spirit of 1983
Hans Winterberg: orchestral works (Capriccio)
The lost sounds of a German Jewish composer
Aujourd hui, Boris ne regrette rien
Boris bitterly regrets that his actions have consequences
Ben Fogle: Pukka prince of fluff
His films are overrated, overindulged, and dismal
The progressive war on sex
New norms around “consent” are aimed at destroying the miracle of intimacy
Digital dysmorphia
The internet has gone from the marketplace of ideas, to a marketplace in bodies
Notes from a client kingdom
Britain is a sad sunless satrapy of the American empire