Caroline Edwards at the Royal Academy’s new exhibition, “Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932” One hundred years after the Russian Revolution of 1917, London’s Royal Academy is staging an exhibition of the idealistic early years of Russian avant-garde art, “Revolution, Russian Art 1917-1932” (11 February-17 April 2017). In presenting
Dr Joseph Brooker on Jonathan Coe, The Rain Before It Falls The Rain Before It Falls (2007) becomes a kind of historical novel, but starts with what proves to be a frame narrative in the 2000s. Upon the death of her aunt Rosamond, Gill finds that
Dr Joseph Brooker on Eimear McBride in conversation with Jacqueline Rose On 25th January 2017 the acclaimed novelist Eimear McBride came to Birkbeck for a public conversation with Professor Jacqueline Rose, co-director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities. One of the college’s largest lecture
Dr Anna Hartnell on the Inauguration of Donald Trump Donald Trump’s inaugural address was always going to be ugly. His campaign speeches may have been successful at rallying crowds, but he is no great orator, and a bit of poison and malice is standard fare.
Joseph Brooker on Maps and the 20th Century: Drawing the Line at the British Library The British Library currently displays a large selection of maps from the 20th century. The maps are sorted into the themes: Mapping a New World (a general section, with emphasis on
Martin Eve on Nice Fish at the Harold Pinter Theatre The reviews were mixed and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Two men sitting on a sheet of ice, fishing and talking. For that is the plot of Nice Fish almost in its entirety, which
Professor Martin Eve on The Man Who Knew Infinity On a flight to Kansas this week, where I was participating in a scholarly communications symposium, I watched The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016); a dramatisation of the life of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan as
Dr Isabel Davis on the Waitrose Christmas ad and #StopFundingHate This year’s Christmas advert from Waitrose is a moving tale of the Scandinavian robin’s dangerous migration. Set to a swelling orchestral soundtrack, it tells the story of a girl waiting for the robin to return
Dr Joseph Brooker on Jonathan Lethem, Amnesia Moon The US election this week has sent me back to Jonathan Lethem’s second novel, the science fiction picaresque Amnesia Moon (1995). The novel depicts a dystopian near future in which a catastrophe has fragmented America into a
Daragh Carville on John O’Connor, Come Day – Go Day John O’Connor was born into the tight-knit community of the Mill Row, on the outskirts of Armagh, on April 3, 1920. After leaving school at 14, he worked for the Post Office as a telegram