J W M Thompson
‘My Name is A L Rowse…’
The Diaries of A L Rowse
By A L Rowse, Richard Ollard (ed)
Allen Lane The Penguin Press 462pp £25 order from our bookshop
RICHARD OLLARD'S BIOGRAPHY of A L Rowse, published some four years ago, profited greatly from the egocentric old historian's compulsive habit of diary-keeping. Ollard has now completed his task with this substantial edition of the diaries, which began during Rowse's Cornish schooldays. He died aged ninety-three in 1997 and they constitute a remarkable record of an extraordmary life.
During his lifetime Rowse grew less and less reticent about himself, so it is not surprising that his diaries are candid and at times painfully revealing. He made no secret of his detestation of the modern world, his disdain for many of his rivals in historical scholarship, or his anger
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Empathy is our moral portal gun, and it jams from underuse.'
Don Paterson on Portal 2, catching Covid on the Eurostar, and rereading Ian Hamilton’s 'Against Oblivion'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/portal-agony
'Few people ... have ever taken Bunting, in his deep strangeness, as representing anything or anyone beyond himself.'
@nemoloris on Basil Bunting, the 'demon of delinquency'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/long-road-to-briggflatts
'Most national anthems start at the top and find their place with the people ... few come from the people and find their place at the top, though I still live in hope for "Sunshine on Leith".'
Robert Colls on how 'Jerusalem' became our unofficial anthem.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/o-clouds-unfold