Author Archives: olivercraner

I: ‘Welshness’ and Poetic Identity  Vernon Watkins did not seek fame. It’s not that he didn’t want people to read his poems, but his understanding of success had nothing to do with book sales, critical acclaim or social climbing. He … Continue reading →

That’s the hope I still have for Iraq — that it can rediscover its destiny as a richly various and pluralistic society, a meeting ground of all sorts of creeds and groupings. That’s the hope that sustains me. Kanan Makiya, … Continue reading →

Guido Reni’s portrait of Beatrice Cenci retains pride of place at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, just off Piazza Barberini in Rome. The old story that it was completed by Reni on the eve of Beatrice’s execution … Continue reading →

Towards the end of his life, writing in his memoir Confronting History, George Mosse described the occupation of Mossehaus by the Spartacists during the January uprising of 1919. This was the Berlin headquarters of his grandfather’s publishing empire and contained … Continue reading →

Mario Imperoli’s Like Rabid Dogs opens with a brutal armed robbery that takes place in the bowels of Rome’s Stadio Olimpico during a football match. In the film, Imperoli uses archived footage of the 1976 Serie A play-off between Lazio … Continue reading →

The real difficulty here is that we don’t know exactly what we intend to do in this country. Can you persuade people to take your side when you are not sure in the end whether you’ll be there to take … Continue reading →

During his lifetime, Balzac’s debts were as famous as his novels and more widely discussed than his love affairs. Money was the great unifying subject of La Comédie humaine and the legal and moral dimensions of debt were an important … Continue reading →

In February 1981, Marvin Gaye moved to the seaside town of Ostend in Belgium, as a guest of the concert promoter Freddy Cousaert. This was a rescue mission for Cousaert, as well as an unmissable opportunity: a fan of Gaye, … Continue reading →

  I: Condé Nasties On the surface, Anna Wintour took public humiliation well. It was easier when The Devil Wears Prada was just a book, even if it was a New York Times bestseller and progenitor of an entire literary … Continue reading →

  I: Family  Sarah Palin was like a comet zooming across the American sky: out of Alaska, a blazing vision of the republic’s future. In the thick of this current political era, it is worth re-watching the first national speech that … Continue reading →