Regarding Henry

Posted on by Jonathan Beckman

I’ve wondered over the years what Michael Anesko was up to. In 1986 he published a monograph on Henry James. Nothing wonderful about that. James studies had by that time become industrial in its scale of monograph production. What was unusual about Friction with the Market was its bolshiness. The image of the Master promoted […]

Oulipotastic

Posted on by Jonathan Beckman

On the face of it, there is a great deal in this book to baffle even the most open-minded of English-speaking readers. It is essentially an account of the life and times of the Oulipo group, a Paris-based coalition of writers, mathematicians and artists that was set up in 1960 with the express intention of […]

Spinach & Ice Cream

Posted on by Jonathan Beckman

There’s a moment to savour in the 1930 Marx Brothers comedy Animal Crackers when Groucho flings woo at two wealthy women while wishing he could tell us what he really thinks of them. ‘Pardon me while I have a strange interlude,’ he says, stepping out of the scene to deliver a solemn monologue in a […]

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