Crime fiction
I’m enjoying a guilty pleasure this week: reading a classic detective mystery, the kind Raymond Chandler tore strips off in his defining essay The Simple Art of Murder in 1944 … Continue reading
Once and future king
I have a book (several of them in fact) I have been carrying around for years but have never read. It is a facsimile edition of JM Dent and Sons’ … Continue reading
Some films by Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley is a NY independent film maker who started working professionally in 1988 and is still working today. You can visit him on Facebook for details of his current … Continue reading
Edward FitzGerald, the republican lord
The night of 17th May 1798 was a busy one for the city Militia and for the Army in Dublin. Martial Law had been in force since 30 March. Each … Continue reading
Ariadne’s thread
This is an exploration of the myth of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete. Yet I have to proceed in the same way as Tristram Shandy did. He wrote … Continue reading
Little issues
Don’t you think we spend too much time on big issues? I know I do. Pollution, honest politicians, health and diet, saving money, weight? They are big issues, important, but … Continue reading
A dream of freedom
This is my fourth essay on members of the Davis family in colonial Australia, about Joseph Davis the Irish republican exile. I began with an essay on a collateral relation … Continue reading
