Baba Yaga: The best ‘depraved witch’ of all?

Baba Yaga: The Complex Folklore Character In fairy tales, girls of a sure age often take one in all two roles: the depraved witch or the evil stepmother, and typically each. A key determine from Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga actually fulfils the necessities of the depraved witch – she lives in a home that walks … Read more

Why Don DeLillo is America’s best dwelling author

Ultra-Modernity: DeLillo’s Observations of Contemporary Life “An excellent story about dying and the concern of dying,” stated the unique jacket blurb on Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise – including that the guide “is a comedy, after all.” This month, Noah Baumbach’s Netflix movie of White Noise dazzles its approach on to our screens, and … Read more

The rise of apocalyptic novels

Leave the World Behind: A Thriller in a Climate Crisis Think about you are having fun with much-needed time away with your loved ones, staying in an expensive Lengthy Island vacation rental, miles from wherever. Then comes a late-night knock on the door and strangers bearing information of a sinister energy outage in New York … Read more

Wole Soyinka: The books that basically change the world?

Wole Soyinka Returns with a Scorching Satire Because the Nigerian author Wole Soyinka publishes his first novel since 1972, Cameron Laux explores the function of satire in literature. The distinguished Nigerian author Wole Soyinka has simply revealed his first novel in nearly a half century, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest Folks on Earth … Read more

Why the world’s most troublesome novel is so rewarding

A Centenary Celebration: Proust’s Masterpiece Turns 100 Marcel Proust’s groundbreaking 1922 masterpiece In Search of Misplaced Time is taken into account daunting and tough by many, however has been misunderstood and is definitely universally interesting, writes Cath Pound. This yr marks the centenary of each the dying of Marcel Proust and the publication in English … Read more

Colette: The most beloved French writer of all time

Celebrating Colette’s a hundred and fiftieth Birthday: A Timeless French Icon An icon in her native France, Colette’s scandalous life and works nonetheless captivate readers 150 years on from her delivery, writes John Self. “How lengthy Colette has lived, even after her demise!” wrote the journalist Janet Flanner in 1967. Greater than half a century … Read more

The dark side of Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl was an disagreeable man who wrote macabre books – and but kids around the globe adore them. Maybe this shouldn’t shock us, writes Hephzibah Anderson. That is an up to date model of an article initially revealed in 2016. As soon as upon a time a small orphaned boy was packed off to … Read more

The power of Forbidden Notebook’s hidden diary entries

The 1952 novel Forbidden Pocket book reveals one lady’s inside life with radical honesty. On Worldwide Ladies’s Day, Clare Thorp explores how the e-book – which has simply been republished in English – nonetheless resonates at present, discovering new audiences in repressive societies throughout the globe. Introduction to “Forbidden Notebook” There’s all the time a … Read more

Philip K Dick: the writer who witnessed the future

Forty years for the reason that dying of the sci-fi writer – whose tales have impressed movies like Blade Runner and Minority Report – Adam Scovell explores how prophetic his work has been. Introduction: Philip K. Dick’s Prophetic Vision I’m in passport management. I can see my face on a display screen. The expertise recognises … Read more