Frank, Revealing and Poignant: Yale to publish Richard Burton’s Diaries
This October, Yale will be publishing the surviving diaries of Richard Burton. Starting when he was 14 and running throughout his life, career and the years of his celebrated marriages to Elizabeth Taylor, The Richard Burton Diaries reveal a man quite different from the one we ‘know’ as acclaimed actor, film star and jet-set celebrity. With … Read more
Another Side: Extract from ‘Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown’ by David Yaffe
In Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown (out now in paperback) iterary scholar and music critic David Yaffe offers an appreciative yet incisive look at the different facets of Bob Dylan’s life, career and cultural impact. In this exclusive extract Yaffe introduces us to the multiple identities of Bob Dylan, and explains why his book, like Dylan’s … Read more
A Very Personal Exorcism: Eugene O’Neill’s forgotten play and its links with ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’
The publication of Exorcism, an autobiographical play by the father of American theater Eugene O’Neill, is a thrilling discovery and a huge literary event. Its publication, after ninety years, comes as O’Neill’s most famous play Long Day’s Journey into Night opens on London’s West End. Today we look at this great playwright and the striking connections between these two … Read more
Author video: Terry Eagleton Discusses ‘Why Marx was Right’
Marxist critic and literary theorist Terry Eagleton discusses his combative book Why Marx was Right, out in paperback this month. In his controversial, candid and witty book Why Marx was Right, the indomitable Terry Eagleton takes issue with the prejudice that Marxism is dead and buried. Taking ten of the most common objections to Marxism … Read more
From the Bard to the Bible: Books by influential literary critic Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is one of the world’s preeminent literary critics. Known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his theories of poetic influence, his aesthetic approach to literature and his opposition to feminist, Marxist and other postmodern forms of literary criticism, Bloom remains a controversial figure within the literary establishment. Today we take a look at … Read more
