James Joyce’s “Finnegans wake” has long been studied but learning how to read the book is a different if complementary matter. A good way to begin is by listening to its unique soundscapes and rhythms.   Sean Sheehan   With a copy of the novel’s opening pages before you– the […]

John Berger was a household name amongst the British literati in the three decades before the end of the twentieth century. A biography, published this week, invites a fresh appraisal of his life and his work.   Sean Sheehan   Berger shot to instant fame in 1972 for two reasons. […]

Emily Wilson’s verse translations of Homer have been justly acclaimed and a new collection of her reflections on ancient literature, in “Crossing the wine-dark sea”, are welcome reading.   Sean Sheehan   Looking at the poetry of Sappho and how it has been received over the centuries, Wilson resists the […]

“Everything was forever, until it was no more” is one of those books that upsets common assumptions about something that has been packaged and presented for uncritical digestion.   Sean Sheehan   Life in the USSR, before it imploded in 1989, is often characterized in binary terms: communism was bad, […]

Gardens are fascinating places. They say so much about their custodians.   Sean Sheehan   Walk down a suburban street in Britain and front gardens tell all. You might see a small but manicured lawn with flower beds or an unkempt patch of grass filled with a jumble of bikes […]