Rundell, Ibsen, Gogh, Yoshida, Tanizaki, Atwood, Dolan, Bate, Chaucer, Orbital, Liberalism, Future, Monsters, Justice, Autism, Ass
Recent reading, watching, listening, viewing
Tomorrow, at 6p.m. UK time, I am talking to Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Philips about Shakespeare and second chances. Tickets here.
If I include everything I have read, watched, or seen this will become a tedious exercise. You don’t, surely, need my notes on The Quest for Corvo (good but overrated) or The Real Sebastian Knight (virtuoso, not my favourite). Nor will it be news to you that Daisy Miller, Washington Square, or The Portrait of a Lady are Really Quite Good. If I write about the movies I have seen, that will be in a separate post, but again, I’m not the one you want for that. So this is a selection of the things that moved me most strongly, for better or for worse, or that seem most notable (however un-notable I might have found them.)
Breakthroughs of 2024
Lots of speculatively good or interesting news that ought to be better known.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wonder
I have read almost everything Katherine Rundell has written, and so I did not hear anything very new in these lectures. Nor do I think it is either correct or very advisable to compare children’s literature to vodka. (It would also do her the power of good to never say the word galvanic again.) As time goes by, Rundell becomes, to my ears, more openly left-wing, despite the fact that her own books are classic words of establishment values, as one would expect from a diplomat’s daughter who is a fellow of All Souls. The idea that you can resist capitalism by reading E Nesbit is not just a bit loony, but a sign that she has wondered too far away from her area of expertise.
Still, I remain a fan, I recommend her books to many people, and I think she is one of the better children’s writers of the last few decades. Rooftoppers is my favourite. My children love The Explorers. If you are less familiar with her ideas than I am, you will enjoy these lectures, and I’m glad to see her promoting the value of great children’s literature. One or two people have said recently her John Donne book was overpraised. I say no!
Wild Duck
Ibsen bores me. Too neatly structured. Too didactic. Too “capitalism and greed killed this innocent girl!” (What was that recent Ibsen adaptation that became All About Brexit? Dreary!) But, I did very much like seeing Wild Duck performed in Norwegian, which gives a much better sense of the whole mood of the play, however much the play itself is like George Bernard Shaw without any of the redeeming charm. Something temperamental gets lost when one culture performs the work of another and I am very glad to have seen this production. They come to London once a year, I think, so make sure you go next time if you can. Meanwhile, I am sticking to Chekhov, not Ibsen. Now that’s a true writer.
Van Gogh, National Gallery
I do not love Van Gogh. Not at all. But there are many splendid pictures in this exhibition. The early portraits, his use of blue, and the asylum gardens in blossom were my favourites. My children enjoyed it, too. It was difficult for my son to walk away from Starry Night. “I can’t just leave this!” My daughter took me to see several pictures she enjoyed, including the Cyprus Tree. I hear it’s sold out, but if you can get tickets maybe you should. On the other hand, we have ‘Monet in London’ and ‘Renaissance Drawings’ both showing in London, both of which promise to be better. I am also desperate to see Constable. reviewed Gogh and Constable recently (and I think he’s right).