John Thieme
Rites of Passage
Michael Ondaatje’s new novel concludes with a familiar disclaimer telling its readers that its characters are fictional. In this case it is a more necessary caveat than usual, since the book has a narrator named Michael who, like Ondaatje, hails from Sri Lanka; and Michael records events that occurred on his sea journey as an eleven-year-old to England, where, like Ondaatje, he subsequently attended Dulwich College. In later life, Michael has become a writer and, again like Ondaatje, he appears to live mainly in Canada.
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'"Dutch Light" roots its subject in his local environment, explaining, for example, how an abundance of sand for making glass led naturally to a thriving business in optical instruments in Holland.'
Patricia Fara on the life & work of Christiaan Huygens.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/through-the-magnifying-glass
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'We may not be able to shield ourselves from irrational passions such as hatred, anger, envy, mockery and pride, or from the buffetings of circumstance, but we can rise above them by obtaining insight into their nature and their causes.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-poetry-of-reason