Critical thinking, published every fortnight. Read at lrb.co.uk Try the LRB for just £6: lrb.me/socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.ukhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu7wn6xxy62s‘Ronald Firbank’s radical fragmentary technique grew in perfect symbiosis with the essential novelist’s genius for noticing and remembering details.’ Alan Hollinghurst on the British novelist. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/alan-hollinghurst/it-s-queer-how-i-m-lonely29 Aug 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu7wn6xxy62shttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu7u4hxupy25‘Postwar cinema liked to get out there and do a bit of damage. 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘱𝘴𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘸 (1979) took its toll on the palm plantations and rainforests of the Philippines, but this wasn’t an issue for Western audiences at the time.’ Jeremy Harding on the politics of location shoots https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/a-small-part-of-paradise29 Aug 2026 12:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu7u4hxupy25https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu7rlzeyp72e‘Unlike Stalin, Mao or Franco, Kim Il-sung created a system that changed little after his death and is upheld by an unprecedented third dynastic generation.’ Ed Pulford on the founder of North Korea. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/ed-pulford/beyond-the-38th-parallel29 Aug 2026 11:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu7rlzeyp72ehttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu7p3moikk2dOur summer of travel is drawing to a close, but you can still get 50% off a 12-month subscription to our Close Readings subscription podcast – offer ends 31 August Use code SUMMER50 at checkout when you sign up here: lrb.me/crtravelna29 Aug 2026 10:45 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu7p3moikk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu7mld7xmv2e‘Simultaneity seems a better way of thinking about Hurvin Anderson’s work than “liminality”, which has become a common conceptual shorthand for the work of Black artists and filmmakers.’ Christine Okoth on the painter’s Tate Britain show. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/christine-okoth/at-tate-britain https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/christine-okoth/at-tate-modern29 Aug 2026 10:00 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu7mld7xmv2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu7k2mpzwz2j‘Trying to weigh up, say, the rival claims of liberty and equality in any particular situation would be like trying to assess the comparative merits of a sunset and a daffodil.’ On the podcast: Seamus Perry’s Winter Lecture on ‘Pluralism and the Modern Poet’. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lrb-podcast/id510327102?i=100078594754629 Aug 2026 09:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu7k2mpzwz2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu7gpe5azd24‘The impression of Scandinavia’s immense distance from Mediterranean Europe is a legacy of medieval parochialism and the shock of the Vikings. In reality, continental Denmark is only a four-week march from the Roman frontier.’ Michael Kulikowski on ancient Scandinavia. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/michael-kulikowski/polar-bears-in-rome29 Aug 2026 08:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu7gpe5azd24https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu6aggv4c423‘Mother had wanted the social gift of Eton, so Mother reaped the social gift of Eton. Mother 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥. So she could be correspondingly disappointed. What did Father want?’ James Wood remembers his parents. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/james-wood/show-us-the-father28 Aug 2026 20:50 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu6aggv4c423https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu65vxznvk2dLydia Davis will the give the second annual 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 Autumn Lecture, titled ’Dying, or Doing Something Else: Reflections on Marcus Aurelius and Other Stoics’, on 28 October at the New School, New York City. Details and tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/londonreviewofbooks/234228128 Aug 2026 20:05 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu65vxznvk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu62cj3awv24‘In the absence of textual content, we are left to focus on the material object, on nuances of grain, texture, creases, marks. The surface of the page may emerge in distinct and surprising ways.’ Gill Partington on an exhibition of invisible books, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/at-the-wittockiana28 Aug 2026 19:00 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu62cj3awv24https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5xrd654f25‘The caves are a kind of shelter, but just as much a miniature of what we are sheltering from. Why do the beasts seem at home in the darkness, whatever it is?’ T.J. Clark on the Chauvet cave paintings. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/t.j.-clark/night-visitors28 Aug 2026 18:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5xrd654f25https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5vatpmfa2s‘In 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘺, Nolan alludes to the ills of colonial adventure, but he had no qualms about filming in Western Sahara.’ Jeremy Harding on the politics of location shoots, now and previously, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/a-small-part-of-paradise28 Aug 2026 17:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5vatpmfa2shttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5sqebfnd2u‘Generations of Catholic neurotics might protest against the utility of guilt, but at least J.D. Vance is unlikely to run out of raw material.’ James Butler (@piercepenniless.bsky.social) on Vance’s conversion memoir. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/james-butler/short-cuts28 Aug 2026 16:45 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5sqebfnd2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5qazfzjl2u‘She was multifaceted in a way that few are: she was a popular, well-respected, beloved iconoclast, a true original, and she also radiated the self-referential camp of a celebrity impersonator. She operated both as a person and as an idea:’ Niela Orr on Dolly Parton. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/on-dolly-parton28 Aug 2026 16:00 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5qazfzjl2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5n5ohxck2o‘This is the configuration that continues to interest Henry James: the single woman, this brilliant figure. And these young men who want her and who she will in fact disdain.’ Colm Tóibín on 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘺, on the podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lrb-podcast/id510327102?i=100078519109728 Aug 2026 15:05 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5n5ohxck2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5gyuj5yh2n‘An extraordinary 314,000 people between 18 and 24 are not in work, or education, or in training, or receiving benefits. They have effectively disappeared off the government’s grid.’ @will-davies.bsky.social on what’s going wrong for British youth. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/william-davies/young-people-are-different28 Aug 2026 13:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5gyuj5yh2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5eif4hfj23‘Taybeh, on a hilltop near Ramallah, is the site of the Middle East’s oldest microbrewery. It used to welcome tens of thousands of visitors each year and host an annual Oktoberfest; it is now surrounded by settler outposts.’ @selmadabbagh.bsky.social on the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/we-suffer-together28 Aug 2026 12:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5eif4hfj23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu5bxwlmkm2n‘Hurvin Anderson doesn’t stick to a single location or medium, though many of his paintings could be seen as visual negotiations of his relationship to the Caribbean. He was the only child of eight not to be born in Jamaica.’ Christine Okoth at Tate Britain. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/christine-okoth/at-tate-britain28 Aug 2026 11:45 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5bxwlmkm2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu57xnswnn2u‘There seemed to be no set destination, no fixed political orientation, no guiding principle except that music is manna and every person is deserving of dignity and respect.’ New on the blog: Niela Orr on Dolly Parton. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/on-dolly-parton28 Aug 2026 11:09 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu57xnswnn2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu54nzsn4t23description is decadent and passé some say some say I’ve spent the hour watching a rainbow link mountains in my eye a spectrum revealed dematerialised light ‘Fire’, a poem by Maureen N. McLane. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/maureen-n.-mclane/fire28 Aug 2026 10:10 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu54nzsn4t23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu4zuqtufh2u‘In the centre of the exhibition is a case of non-existent books. Florence Jung’s 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 (2015) is invisible, apparent only through an invoice (€47, which seems rather steep, even if it does include shipping).’ Gill Partington in Brussels, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/at-the-wittockiana28 Aug 2026 09:20 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu4zuqtufh2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu4wafjpmj2u‘The representation of Odysseus as a reluctant warlord makes a nonsense of the movie’s imagined world. We are not shown that war or killing are bad, only that good men sometimes feel bad about it – a very different point.’ Emily Wilson on Christopher Nolan’s film. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/emily-wilson/an-uncomplicated-man28 Aug 2026 08:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu4wafjpmj2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu4sv4eebo2i‘We want things two ways. Analysis says we cannot have them. But for a moment, a poet, a poem, lets us, in a way that discursive prose, for instance, cannot.’ On the podcast: Seamus Perry’s Winter Lecture on ‘Pluralism and the Modern Poet’. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lrb-podcast/id510327102?i=100078594754628 Aug 2026 07:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu4sv4eebo2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu3qsdsjhw2kThe marriage plot, man versus Wilderness plot – there are more, But I forget. The biggest one is this: The world-knot. It needed, we did not Know, to stay knotted. What looked Like a tangle was in fact its substance. A poem by @tricialockwood.bsky.social: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/patricia-lockwood/the-world27 Aug 2026 21:05 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3qsdsjhw2khttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu3k3rnisk2i‘Taybeh, on a hilltop near Ramallah, is the site of the Middle East’s oldest microbrewery. It used to welcome tens of thousands of visitors each year and host an annual Oktoberfest; it is now surrounded by settler outposts.’ @selmadabbagh.bsky.social on the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/we-suffer-together27 Aug 2026 19:05 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3k3rnisk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu3gzhxsia2r‘The main space is currently given over to an exhibition of blank pages, empty books and “publications made of silence”. This minimal theme is given a maximalist treatment.’ Gill Partington at the Wittockiana, new on the blog: https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/at-the-wittockiana27 Aug 2026 18:10 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3gzhxsia2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu3ckekine23‘Seven thousand families in Buenaventura cannot meet their basic needs because of the quake. Government relief hasn’t reached other affected regions either.’ Forrest Hylton on the earthquake in Colombia, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/august/unnatural-disasters27 Aug 2026 16:50 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3ckekine23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu3acxwwh62u‘Trinidad and Tobago became both plantation society and petro-state. The contradictions inherent in this rural-industrial hybrid have proved fertile ground for Hurvin Anderson, who often dares his subjects to retreat from view.’ Christine Okoth at Tate Britain. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/christine-okoth/at-tate-britain27 Aug 2026 16:10 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3acxwwh62uhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu363dt77k2r‘Eliot’s uneasiness about pluralism is like Arnold’s uneasiness about order. He associated its modern form with the kind of politics of which he, Eliot, did not approve – namely what he calls “the chaos of liberal democracy”.’ Seamus Perry on the podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lrb-podcast/id510327102?i=100078594754627 Aug 2026 15:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu363dt77k2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mu2x3sfngw2q‘I don’t​ remember when I first learned to make cyanotypes, but I had loved Anna Atkins’s prints for many years when I found myself in the grip of an obsession with her work, and with the possibilities of the process.’ Gaby Wood on Anna Atkins’s pioneering images. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/gaby-wood/translucency27 Aug 2026 13:25 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2x3sfngw2q