RITA DI SANTO speaks to the exiled Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa about Two Prosecutors, his chilling study of the Stalinist purges
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(may cause offense)
GAVIN O’TOOLE chuckles through a guide to politically correct usage of the literary canon
An anti-discrimination education workshop at the Auschwitz Jewish Center, Poland, 2019
FIONA O’CONNOR is fascinated by a novel written from the perspective of a neurodivergent psychology student who falls in love
New releases from Robert Forster, Self Esteem, and Arve Henriksen
SIMON PARSONS is gripped by a psychological thriller that questions the the power of the state over vulnerable individuals
KEN COCKBURN assesses the art of Ian Hamilton Finlay for the experience of warfare it incited and represents
The bard gives us advance notice of his upcoming medieval K-pop releases
GORDON PARSONS steps warily through the pessimistic world view of an influential US conservative
You Can’t Say That Any More
Ivor Vertue, Abacus, £14.99
AS Washington rapidly begins to resemble imperial Rome under a power-hungry absolutist, one might be tempted to revisit Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, but those of a delicate disposition should be warned, the language and tone of this 1599 theatrical masterpiece is dangerously outdated — and today may cause offence.
Indeed, this staple of English literature is a prime candidate for a revision that drags it kicking and screaming into a modern era in which we must navigate our narrative universe using a compass of overindulgent hyper-sensitivity.
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