The impact on Mill of the events in Paris in February 1848 was, as was common among European radicals, immense and galvanising. 'I am hardly yet out of breath from reading and thinking about it......Nothing can possibly exceed the importance of it to the world or the immensity of the interests which are at stake …
Author: nick2209
Anarcho-socialist, Birmingham City Women supporter, lover of Americana/Country, Byron fan, atheist - and clinical depressive, which should be unrelated to foregoing although you have to wonder!
Crabbe – Tale 11: Edward Shore
Returning to Crabbe after a long absence (10 months) I am confronted by a Tale for which I have little sympathy. However I am able to admire Crabbe's narrative skills and the power of his verse, even if I am suspicious of the ends to which they are put in this case. Edward Shore is …
Turgenev’s Smoke
Returning to Turgenev after a long break I have reached the extraordinary Smoke (1867). This novel was badly received at the time and does not appear to have been much rehabilitated in the century and a half since its publication. One does not have to search far for the reasons for the contemporary hostility: in …
Berlin on Romanticism
Writing about the work of Isaiah Berlin is an extremely difficult process. The thought is so diffuse (though only very rarely anything less than pellucid), the arguments so close, the range of reference so wide, and above all the generosity of spirit, the endless qualification and perception of alternative views, mean that any attempt at precis …
Some Trollopian Politics
This is a post which I sent to Trollope-l in April 2009. I am transferring it to my blog because it is my hope to gradually build up my own archive of easily accessible writings which I have submitted (and will I hope be again) to the lists to which I belong. Many aspects of The …
Byron’s Years of Fame
Byron The Years of Fame : Peter Quennell (1943) Byron The Years of Fame covers Byron's life from 1811-1816; from his arrival back in England after his continental travels, to his departure in the wake of his divorce. As an introductory guide to Byron's character or life, let alone his verse, Quennell would be a …
The Proms 2010
Consequent upon my ever-growing interest in classical music I have been listening to and watching more of the Proms this year than ever before. And because it has been Mahler's anniversary year, 2010 has been a particularly good year for me to do so. Having said which, the BBC's rather bizarre broadcasting practices have been something of …
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the film.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), directed by Niels Arden Oplev, is, as most of the world knows, an adaptation of the first volume of Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy which has so dominated bestseller lists over the past couple of years. The second (The Girl Who Played with Fire) and third (The Girl Who Kicked the …
Continue reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the film.
The Waves of Feminism
It may seem, and possibly is, something of an absurdity for a man to write on this subject. My excuse is that I keep coming upon the terms 1st, 2nd and 3rd wave feminism, along with 'post-feminism', and am never very clear as to what exactly is meant. It would therefore be helpful for me …
Mother
Ah coincidence! Just last week I was engaged upon an interesting discussion, on my other blog, about whether it is possible to write proper criticism when one has to avoid giving the plot away, and what should happen? I come upon a film for which this holds true more than any mystery I have read …
Moving Toyshop 