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RIP John le Carré - brilliant and underrated to the last
Richard Farr
  • Dec 14, 2020

RIP John le Carré - brilliant and underrated to the last

I met him when I was eleven or twelve, because one of his sons was in my class. He arrived in a Rolls Royce, talked affably in the...
Time's wingèd chariot
Richard Farr
  • Dec 9, 2020

Time's wingèd chariot

I was amused and a little disturbed recently to stumble upon both a couple of life expectancy calculators (here's one) and a page on the...
Spartan talk
Richard Farr
  • Jul 16, 2020

Spartan talk

Above: Edgar Degas and Jacques Louis David with competing erotic visions of the Spartans. Or Lacedaemonians. Rooting about in Thucydides,...
The uselessness of Eric Ambler
Richard Farr
  • Mar 27, 2020

The uselessness of Eric Ambler

In the years leading up to the Second World War, Eric Ambler wrote some of the most influential thrillers ever published - more or less...
Kafka's progress
Richard Farr
  • Feb 18, 2020

Kafka's progress

Today's quote of the day from The Browser - which I recommend to everyone - struck a cord for me. It's a commonplace in our culture to...
Italo Calvino on how to be an efficient writer
Richard Farr
  • Nov 25, 2019

Italo Calvino on how to be an efficient writer

“Every morning I tell myself, Today has to be productive—and then something happens that prevents me from writing. Today . . . what is...
Happy birthday George Eliot!
Richard Farr
  • Nov 23, 2019

Happy birthday George Eliot!

One of the most luminous, most humane intelligences in history was born two hundred years ago today: But the effect of her being on those...
Al-chemie
Richard Farr
  • Nov 20, 2019

Al-chemie

Reading all the depressing news about plastic, which has now found its way to the bottom of the Marianas Trench – I’m reminded again of a...
Macboris: a fragment from a lost play about power and nihilism
Richard Farr
  • Nov 4, 2019

Macboris: a fragment from a lost play about power and nihilism

Discovered recently among the manuscripts of that great English dramatist Willie A. Peakshamers: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...
Preston Singletary at the Tacoma Glass Museum
Richard Farr
  • Jul 27, 2019

Preston Singletary at the Tacoma Glass Museum

I don’t think of myself as a glass fan, and little else here (or at Chihulymania in Seattle) does anything for me, aesthetically. But...
RIP Les Murray 1938-2019
Richard Farr
  • May 1, 2019

RIP Les Murray 1938-2019

The brilliant old curmudgeon, Australia’s great Bard of Bunyah, is dead. I found his political, social and religious outlook by turns...
The brutal irony of brutalised Brutalists
Richard Farr
  • Feb 28, 2019

The brutal irony of brutalised Brutalists

In this article in the Guardian on the subject of famous “Brutalist” buildings under threat from demolition, I note with interest and...
Well anyway, all ends well
Richard Farr
  • Jan 11, 2019

Well anyway, all ends well

The characters’ motivations make so little sense that theories abound about missing or garbled text. And some of its faults would be easy...
Richard Farr
  • Dec 18, 2018

Ralph and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra in the Olivier at the National Theatre; a bracingly modern techno-thriller with executive suites, machine guns, and...
Richard Farr
  • May 29, 2018

Progress about ‘progress in philosophy’

Philosophers are still reading Aristotle, and still arguing about whether there is free will: ergo, philosophy is useless. It has always...
Richard Farr
  • Mar 29, 2018

Books for Writers: “How Fiction Works”

I’m re-reading the critic James Wood’s excellent, readable little book of this title. Every writer should have a copy. There’s a superb...
A taste of Los Angeles
Richard Farr
  • Feb 5, 2018

A taste of Los Angeles

Josef Beuys, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, and Keith Haring at the Broad Museum. Street art in East LA. And mariachi players in Mariachi...
Richard Farr
  • Jan 24, 2018

RIP Ursula Le Guin

Such brilliant titles! How can you not want to read a book called The Lathe of Heaven, or The Left Hand of Darkness? The stylistic and...
Wyeth at SAM
Richard Farr
  • Dec 20, 2017

Wyeth at SAM

It’s all about the textures at the Seattle Art Museum’s brilliant 100th anniversary retrospective on Andrew Wyeth, an iconic American...
Richard Farr
  • Nov 16, 2017

Great acting – and tyranny

Helping out with a high school class on dystopian lit, I came across one of the best examples of the craft I’ve seen in a long time – the...
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