‘Baumgartner’: Love in the moment of truth
In his new novel, Paul Auster maintains his faith in fiction and love despite living – as he says – in ‘Cancerland’
Be my character
Is the book you are holding art, or just merchandise? Why is J. M. Coetzee's work literature while Dan Brown's isn't?
Everyman’s day
Cultural fast food joints, the Kentucky Fried Chicken of the human spirit, have banished any foolish optimism about enlightenment
Brod insults Brod
‘Magma’ is a powerful send-up of the hogwash that dominates the "literary life" of our times
The McGuffin
The paradigm of the McGuffin is in The Maltese Falcon, perhaps the most garrulous movie in the history of cinema