Criticism
We have lost an unforgettable teacher and one of the greatest living critics
Tanner, the critic RICHARD BRATBY Michael Tanner (1935-2024), who died earlier this month, had such a vital mind and stood…
The coming of barbarism
There’s a scene in Martin Amis’s 1990s revenge comedy The Information in which a book reviewer, who’s crushed by his…
The silence of the critics
A world without criticism is just advertising
Critique
Six years ago I wrote here about critique, as a noun or verb, and things have gone from bad to…
A salmagundi of tedium
The White Pube started life as an influential art blog, written by Zarina Muhammad and Gabrielle de la Puente. The…
David Cairns explains how we learned to love Berlioz
According to his friend and fellow-composer Ernest Reyer, the last words Berlioz spoke on his deathbed were: ‘They are finally…
Alive and kicking
Four years after his death, it is still faintly surprising to recall that Christopher Hitchens is no longer resident on…
Critique
I lost my husband on the way from Malabar. He is easily lost. We had been talking about the verb…
If On the Road’s great, what else have I missed?
This week’s column is dedicated to all those of you who have never read Catcher in the Rye and who,…
The secret of Civilisation
No modern critic would dare match Kenneth Clark’s fearless way with sweeping statements
Bare ruined choirs
I am shocked to find that William Empson, famous for his technique of close reading, was no good at reading…
A theatre critic at the school play
‘Another opening, another show,’ sang five-year-old Charlie on his way to school this morning — and then proceeded to belt…
