After a few disappointing and shoddy documentaries which shook my faith in the ability of modern British television to produce a decent one, along came a brilliant example. Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children directed by Jezza Neumann and produced and presented by Xoliswa Sithole was intensely, at times unbearably, moving, while at the same time being extremely instructive. The …
A Woman in Berlin
This is a joint review and consideration of the book A Woman in Berlin (1954) and the film of the same name (2008), whose original German title was Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin. I saw the film much earlier this year and then by complete chance came across a first edition of the London publication of the book (1955) …
Byron and the Academy
The Newstead Abbey Byron Review is published annually, and consists mainly of papers which have been given at various Byron conferences in the preceding year, book reviews and a few pieces which appear to have been specially written for the Review. The 2010 edition contains quite a lot of interest to the Byron enthusiast. I …
Why Read?
This question was prompted by a couple of remarks I have read and heard recently, in very different contexts. My title might well be 'Why I Read?' but the omission of the personal gives a more consequential air. The first, and more important, of my sources came in a paper by Peter Cochran entitled Byron's …
The Romantic Exiles
I happened to espy E.H. Carr's book The Romantic Exiles (1933), which tells the story of the lives of certain 19thC Russian exiles, in my favourite second-hand bookshop in Gateway-of-Fleet, and was delighted to be able to buy it. My primary interest was in the private life of Alexander Herzen but the book turned out to be of much …
August Miscellany (2010)
So I return to produce the first monthly miscellany since February. It is my intention under my new regime that these miscellanies will actually be shorter and I will have more individual entries. Since my recovery on August 5th (as usual it was fairly sudden and I can therefore be specific) the rest of the …
Dumbing-down : A Rant
Occasionally I feel in the need of a rant. Most recently my wrath has been incurred by a BBC4 Programme entitled In Their Own Words. I have decided to try to give my ire a more theoretical and, hopefully, objective framework by considering the topic of dumbing-down. Dumbing-down is a much misused term to which …
Three August Movies
Definitely, Maybe (2008) written and directed by Adam Brooks is a movie I have seen a couple of times now and throughly enjoyed on each occasion. Unfortunately, also on each occasion I have watched the film in the middle of a depressive episode, and am therefore unable to write about it as much as it …
Trollope’s Later Short Stories – The Lady of Launay
A period of at least three months having passed since I completed Trollope's Later Short Stories, it is interesting to find those which have remained most firmly fixed in my mind. I should say at once that these stories are almost always at the least interesting, but among them are a number of delicious gems, …
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Letter From An Unknown Woman
After a long period of closure Birmingham's main 'arthouse' cinema at the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) has reopened. Actually the whole of MAC has been resigned/redecorated/refitted and it is now a much more pleasant and airy space. I don't think they have done that much to the cinema, but it does mean that foreign language/independent/reissues …
Moving Toyshop 