Among fictional spies, James Bond remains supreme. No one has come close to dethroning him. George Smiley might boast a powerful intellect, but he can’t throw a punch. Jason Bourne can, but he has all the fashion sense of a lorry driver: in five movies, he doesn’t once put on a tuxedo. The two Jacks […]
Poetry and despotism do not mix. Except, it seems, in communist East Germany. There, according to Philip Oltermann’s gripping and highly readable new book, The Stasi Poetry Circle, poetry was seen as a secret weapon. The Stasi (the nickname for the Ministry for State Security) cultivated a creative writing workshop, officially known as the Working […]
In chapter seven of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, the disillusioned Tatiana inspects the books in Onegin’s abandoned library. She finds ‘marks of his pencil on their margins. Everywhere Onegin’s soul can’t help expressing itself with a short word, a cross, or a question mark.’ Tatiana ends up wondering about the real character of the man she […]
Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the USSR and Communist Party general secretary, died on 10 November 1982, unlamented outside the curtilage of his family and political retainers. The official cult of his greatness had for years been the object of ridicule among citizens of the Soviet Union, and his mental and physical degradation had been an […]
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Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm