The bard pays homage to his two muses: his wife and his football club
Books, Artists, Beats by Jim Burns
An anarchic but never chaotic trip through troubling times
Dark times: Richard Oelze’s 1936 painting The Expectation
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by an incoherent show that fails to question stereotypical assumptions about the Soviet Union
JOHN McINALLY welcomes a rigorous class analysis of the history and exploitation of sectarianism by the Scottish ruling elite
WILL STONE, JAMES WALSH and MARIA DUARTE review Souleymane’s Story, Sunlight, Good Fortune, and After The Hunt
ALEX HALL recommends an exhaustive investigation of the means by which the Starmer faction assassinated the left
DAVID MORGAN recommends a refreshingly inspiring novel that features encounters with some tremendous women
THIS 10th compendium of essays and reviews, cleverly curated by poet Jim Burns, uses texts, art, music and film as springboards for discussion of different periods of cultural upheaval, reflecting change which has benefited writers and artists but at other times threatened their lives and livelihoods.
The majority of the essays and reviews focus on periods of great upheaval in the 20th century, from times of fear to periods of cultural reawakening. They highlight acts of bravery from those who’ve stood up against forces beyond their control, as well as others who have struggled to get their work and voices heard.
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JAN WOOLF wallows in the historical mulch of post WW2 West Germany, and the resistant, challenging sense made of it by Anselm Kiefer
CAROLINE FOWLER explains how the slave trade helped establish the ‘golden age’ of Dutch painting and where to find its hidden traces
CHRISTINE LINDEY welcomes a fascinating survey of the work of the communist and socialist artists who founded the AIA in the 1930s