The Political and/or Politics
By Jean-Luc Nancy “As an opening, a quick overview: if our politics [la politique] is no longer simply and strictly that of sovereign states, then it is no longer ‘politics’ as we have known it for a very long time…
Brendan Behan – A bit of a writer
Before his tragic death by self-destructive alcoholism at age 41, Brendan Behan was a celebrated Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both English and Irish. Fifty years since his death, a special issue of Irish…
Percy Bysshe Shelley and the British National Anthem
By Alison Morgan ‘A New National Anthem’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley is probably one of his least known poems. Written in 1820, in the aftermath of the Peterloo Massacre, Shelley’s poem is a paean to the female queen Liberty rather…
Literary Celebrity
Celebrity, publicity and authorship are common place in the 21st century and increasingly, authors are energetic in conveying their own celebrity rather than it simply being thrust upon them; it could be said there is an intimacy between authors and…
Leonardo Da Vinci and Samuel Beckett – implausible bed fellows?
An Italian Renaissance polymath, most known for his notebooks and paintings, Leonardo Da Vinci is still widely considered an enigma. His birthday was today, April 15th. A recent article in Journal of Beckett Studies (Volume 22.2) wonders how much Beckett’s…