Catherine Peters
The Pragmatic Populist
"WHAT WE CALL the heart", said Sidonia, "is a nervous sensation, like shyness, which gradually disappears in society. It is fervent in the nursery, strong in the domestic circle, tumultuous at school. The affections are the children of ignorance; when the horizon of our experience expands, and models multiply, love and admiration imperceptibly vanish." "I fear the horizon of your experience has very greatly expanded. With your opinions, what charm can there be in life?" "The sense of existence."
Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby Christopher Hibbert's welcome new biography of Disraeli implies that he had a good deal in common with his mysterious character Sidonia. This is a 'personal history', but there is a coldness in the portrait which repels intimacy, only occasionally warmed by sparks of affection. An enigma to
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
'Wilson’s target is less a straightforward biography than a sifting of Lawrence’s legacy for what remains urgent and alive, the aim being to shed its infernal baggage in search of an abiding paradise.'
@nemoloris on a new life of D H Lawrence.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/sex-was-a-mystery-to-him
'One of the gloomiest, most depressing and yet most gripping crime novels I have read in a long time.'
@NJCooper_crime reviews new books by @JaneCaseyAuthor, @FrankRGardner, @gregbuchanan, @AuthorSJBolton, @ajaychow, @adeleparks, @PGJonesVenice and more.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/may-2021-crime-round-up
'Catastrophe' as a category 'is too large and miscellaneous ... if there is a "correct" response to an earthquake, it is unlikely to have much in common with the "correct" response to an epidemic'.
Jonathan Sumption on Niall Ferguson's 'Doom'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/prime-minister-versus-pathogen