John Adamson
Pursuit of the Pastoral
Earls of Paradise: England and the Dream of Perfection
By Adam Nicolson
HarperPress 298pp £25 order from our bookshop
Success at the Tudor and Stuart courts was a notoriously accident-prone attainment. In the favoured contemporary simile, those high-fliers who ‘soared Icarus-like’ towards the monarchical sun all too often ended up plummeting earthwards, with ignominious and often fatal results. Envy and enmity attended any great courtier’s rise. There was never a shortage of jealous rivals ready to hasten his fall.
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In this month's Silenced Voices, @lucyjpop shines a light on the tragic case of Shady Habash, a filmmaker who died in an Egyptian prison in May.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/shady-habash
One study found that hoarders 'had lesions on the mesial prefrontal cortex of their brains ... Collecting and hoarding, in other words, are the results of brain damage.'
James Delbourgo explores the psychology of minimalists & collectors.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/gardens-of-emptiness
New double issue of @Lit_Review just out. Lots of incisive reviews ( including by @BurlM11 ) of a wide range of new history, politics, fiction and general books plus a nice little piece on Philip Larkin. Thoroughly recommended!