From the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award site:”The winner was announced by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Michael Conaghan in City Hall, Dublin on Wednesday 15th June.In their comments on the novel the judges said “The Known World begins with the death, at the age of 31, of Henry Townsend, a black farmer in […]
25.9% of Italians voted in Sunday and Monday’s referendum on the law 40/2004 on assisted procreation. That’s less than one in four Italians entitled to vote. And yet, in the last number of days, the papers and television have spoken about little else. We’ve been treated to the birth of dozens of new terms [at […]
Bloodaxe Books were kind enough to send me a copy of J.H. Prynne’s massive Poems, which weighs in at 590 pages and covers work spanning from 1968 up to 2004.A fellow of Gonville & Caius (that’s pronounced Keys riff-raff) College, Prynne is a somewhat controversial figure, I gather, in that vanishingly small circle of people […]
I’ve just been listening to Damon Albarn on the radio (listen here) criticize the lineup at the Live8 concerts for being “Anglo-Saxon”: far too white and middle-class. Of course, Albarn, who has somehow transcended the limitations of his own skin pigmentation and social-economic status, will be staging his own, far cooler event: “Flight 5056.” This […]
While there are those who comfort themselves in the depths of the night with the idea that il Cavaliere, Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister and one of the world’s richest men, is, simply put, a buffoon, not so seasoned media watchers like Umberto Eco.
Last year, speaking to a packed audience in Bologna (on the occasion of the launch of the book L’Opposizione al Governo Berlusconi), Eco pondered whether anyone had noticed the strange patterns of Berlusconi’s media ‘moments’, those wonderful episodes ranging from the concentration camp guard jibe, through to the suggestion that judges are genetically crazy. The theory of the intelligent cavaliere, as we’ll call it, suggests that when Berlusconi is in the news for all the wrong reasons, you can bet your bottom dollar that there’s something else important happening elsewhere.
I’m still pondering the possible implications of a report from a group of researchers from the University of Utah (see here and here) that suggests that the high intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews may be connected to their history of persecution.Crudely stated, the premise goes something like this: European Jews’ exclusion from the ranks of the […]
Here’s an olla podrida of links to book-related articles–gleaned from many man-hours of meticulous surfing–which I thought were worth sharing:Starting on a note of unrelenting gravitas, we have Fintan O’Toole’s appreciation of John Banville’s latest novel, The Sea, in Prospect. There may not be a lot of yucks in O’Toole’s writing but he’s still one […]
Ever the PR maestro, Silvio Berlusconi stage managed the signing of the the European Constitution, in Rome last October, perfectly. It simultaneously managed to cover up the various glitches of the Italian EU Presidency (including the failure to get agreement on the Constitution), and gave the signal that Italy under Berlusconi is a firm part of the European project.
According to a poll taken by the Eurisko Institute, 63% of Italians would vote in favour of the adoption of the European constitution, if a referendum was required for ratification (which it isn’t).
I grant you: this is a very general title for a recipe, and there are million of variations on the theme, that's why I wanted to add a subtitle. A couple of years ago I had a great and interesting time in Cambodia and amongst temples, mass graves, quaint cities, I visited an out of […]