Civilisation made concrete
The ancient Assyrians deserve to be remembered for being pioneering builders and engineers
How baffling to know Mr Lear
In her biography of Edward Lear, Sara Lodge engages with the contradictions at the heart of a man determined to both express and conceal
The spy who loved us
"The Spy and the Traitor brings out with agonising clarity the danger that Oleg Gordievsky had voluntarily decided to run"
Exiles fall out in La La Land
How Thomas Mann and Arnold Schoenberg quarreled in the irritable hothouse climate of the Los Angeles émigrés
To whom does Kafka belong?
In telling the story of Kafka's papers, Benjamin Balint’s new book explores a larger issue: who owns Kafka?
Is this the real life or just fantasy?
It may not be possible to know if we are living in a simulation — but perhaps we don’t need certainty
Viennese rooms with a point of view
The salons of Vienna were key spaces for promoting the emancipation of women and Jews
Sylvia has the last wounding word
The second volume of Plath’s Letters begins with great happiness and poetic promise — and ends with the destruction of her marriage and her