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GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power
Books: Philosopher’s stone unturned
A classic work on alchemy and mysticism charts an ultimately doomed quest for spiritual enlightenment, says MICHAL BONCZA
MIGUEL YOSHIDA explains the evolution and influence of the Cuban Casa De Las Americas in joining culture to the revolutionary struggle
ANDY HEDGECOCK is charmed by a skilful adaptation of Tove Jansson’s lyrical portrait of three generations of a family, overcoming grief
ALEX HALL treads warily through a messy, dialectical struggle fought in the mundane machinery of driving licences, criminal law, and birth registries
MICHAL BONCZA, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and ANGUS REID review Atlas of Disappearance, Love Me Tender, Bouchra, and This Tempting Madness
Flitting between myth and the modern world, Medusa is determined to steer clear of human affairs. When her resolve crumbles, the result is petrifying in every sense
The Hermetic Museum: Alchemy And Mysticism
by Alexander Roob
(Taschen £12.99)
MAKING sense of the world is hard enough in the 21st century, even with all the available paraphernalia of science, philosophies galore and contending religious beliefs to choose from.
Spare a thought then for the souls of the Middle Ages who had only the most rudimentary empiric tools to satiate their desire to comprehend the terrestrial and celestial universes.
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GORDON PARSONS is intrigued by a biography of the Marxist intellectual and author, made from the point of view of his son
JAN WOOLF ponders the works and contested reputation of the West German sculptor and provocateur, who believed that everybody is potentially an artist
PAUL BUHLE recommends an eminently useful book that examines the political opportunities for popular anti-fascist intervention
ALAN McGUIRE welcomes a biography of the French semiologist and philosopher