HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mouth Athos Patrick Leigh Fermor, London: John Murray, 162pp, hb In 2011, Patrick Leigh Fermor became Patrick Leigh Former, and hundreds of thousands of devotees became doubly bereft. The first loss was the man himself, at 96 an antique in his own right, one of… Continue reading
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The glossarian as moralist – review of Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
THE GLOSSARIAN AS MORALIST Landmarks, Robert Macfarlane, London: Hamish Hamilton, 2015, 387pps, hb, £20 Robert Macfarlane is one of the most lionized of contemporary British writers, somehow combining a Cambridge career with producing a celebrated sequence of unusually literate explorations of landscape. First was 2003’s Mountains of the Mind, about Occidental attitudes towards high places… Continue reading
Too quiet flows the Don
TOO QUIET FLOWS THE DON The stone head from the Iron Age glowers out of its glass case as if outraged by the indignity of imprisonment, its relegation from totem to tourist attraction. Not that there are ever many tourists in Doncaster Museum, especially on a unseasonably warm day when the sun-punished town seems full… Continue reading
Early promise – review of Morning Crafts by Tito Perdue
EARLY PROMISE Morning Crafts, Tito Perdue, Arktos, London, 2012, 163 pp Way back in prehistory – 1991, or thereabouts – a promising Alabaman author started to register on readers’ radars, thanks to lambent reviews from Northern litterateurs surprised to discover that there was at least one Southron who could not only write, but write as… Continue reading
Rise of the Dominatrix – review of Margaret Thatcher: Not for Turning by Charles Moore
RISE OF THE DOMINATRIX Margaret Thatcher: Not for Turning Charles Moore, London: Allen Lane, 2013, 859pp When Margaret Thatcher died last April, the obsequies were at times almost drowned by vitriolic voices celebrating her demise. There were howls of joy from old enemies, street parties, and a puerile campaign to make the Wizard of Oz… Continue reading
A paean to pasture – a review of Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel
A PAEAN TO PASTURE Meadowland – The Private Life of an English Field John Lewis-Stempel, London: Doubleday, 2014, hb., 294pps To a town-dweller in transit to another town, or looked down on lazily from a plane, the English countryside can still look green and biodiverse. It would be easy and pleasant to assume that whatever… Continue reading
In the ultra-West
IN THE ULTRA-WEST Derek Turner Drowned drumlins swarmed in the brilliant bay, and ravens like those that plagued Saint Patrick croaked from the chasm below my feet as they rolled lazily half a mile above County Mayo. The ravens’ harsh call was an onomatopoeic reminder of my present eminence, Croagh Patrick, the 2,510 foot cone… Continue reading
Oblivion’s grace
OBLIVION’S GRACE In the deadness of Dove Wing Mrs. Martindale waits – For a Balt with an assortment of jars. She’s a bird that has fallen, Crashed into this place, This carpeted cage without bars. Stunned into quiescence, Imprisoned by age, What an end after flying so far! The trolley is squeaking – An Estonian… Continue reading
Testing for humanity – The Plague Dogs revisited
Testing for humanity – The Plague Dogs revisited I came across by chance recently a DVD of The Plague Dogs, a 1982 animation of Richard Adams’ bestselling 1977 novel. I was catapulted immediately back to childhood, when I had read the book shortly after publication, with a sense of distress and anger I can still… Continue reading
Borderline personality disorder – a review of The Education of Hector Villa
BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER “Roads fade out before you reach the line, And the signposts disappear” Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Borderland The Education of Hector Villa Chilton Williamson, Jr., Rockford, Illinois: Chronicles Press, 2012, pb. 208 Native New Yorker Chilton Williamson, Jr. has an impressive pedigree as conservative intellectual, as former history editor for St. Martin’s Press,… Continue reading