The rise of a plutocratInherited wealth is always attractive, particularly should it include majestic ancestral homes, but it is never really quite …Sat Apr 18 1998 - 01:00
Evening becomes ElectroMargot (played by Olwen Fouere) is in a crisis; she has lost faith in herself as a doctor and as a womanSat Apr 11 1998 - 01:00
The life and shady times of Milomre BlocjMore than any other member of the 1980s "Best of Young British" literary generation, William Boyd is concerned with story - and…Sat Mar 21 1998 - 00:00
How to tell kids a story with musicOne of the most famous and cautionary stories in European folklore makes a beguiling and atmospheric translation to the stage…Thu Mar 19 1998 - 00:00
American Pastoral, by Philip Roth (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)Yet again Roth calls upon the services of Nathan Zuckerman, famous novelist and Roth alter-egoSat Mar 14 1998 - 00:00
Unravelling the mysteriesWhen a young Celonese girl, raised in isolation on Father Brown mysteries, marries Jason, who has wooed her with flowers, poetry…Sat Mar 14 1998 - 00:00
The Chairs, by Eugene Ionesco (Faber, £6.99 in UK)An ancient couple busily prepare for a major occasionSat Feb 21 1998 - 00:00
Moscow Stations, by Venedikt Yerofeev (Faber, £6.99 in UK)Few novels have said more or been as succinct as this inspired autobiographical picaresqueSat Feb 21 1998 - 00:00
John Osborne: Plays Volumes 2 & 3 (Faber, £9.99 each in UK)John Osborne's reputation as a dramatist has been slightly tarnished by his score-settling two-volume autobiography, A Better…Sat Feb 21 1998 - 00:00
Writing of Bryan MacMahon put social irony in sharp focusBryan MacMahon, the Irish writer who best personified the local artist, died on Friday night at the age of 88Mon Feb 16 1998 - 00:00
The Last Thing He Wanted, by Joan Didion (Flamingo, £6.99 in UK)If this bored, cynical story were at least exciting, it would still be hard to endure Didion's arch, pretentious proseSat Feb 14 1998 - 00:00
So Long, See You Tomorrow, by William Maxwell (Harvill, £5.99 in UK)When one Illinois tenant farmer discovers his wife is having an affair with his friend, another farmer, he kills the loverSat Feb 14 1998 - 00:00
An Irishwoman's DiaryWith his close-cropped hair, habitual leather jacket, tough-guy demeanour, complex private life and fondness for nasty small …Tue Feb 10 1998 - 00:00
Local hero`We live in a culture of greed," says Independent TD for Dublin Central Tony GregoryThu Jan 29 1998 - 00:00
From a death to a viewContemporary French fiction - at least as published in English translation - is still a matter of extremes, either primitive …Sat Jan 17 1998 - 00:00
Chronicle of a death foretoldWhen Harold Brodkey was a boy he decided he wanted to reach the age of 70 - and also the end of the centurySat Jan 17 1998 - 00:00
Reading in the darkThe issue of the good versus the important in literature, particularly fiction, has often been raisedSat Jan 03 1998 - 00:00
Thrill-a-minute in the big topTraditional Russian circus, embracing elements of western culture, undercuts this fast-moving, lively show, which offers an exciting…Mon Dec 29 1997 - 00:00
An Original who invented himselfTen years after its first publication, Ellmann's final work has grown in statureSat Dec 27 1997 - 00:00
Clouds spoil the solstice show for AhernHeavy mist rises up from the Boyne, shrouding the great mound of NewgrangeMon Dec 22 1997 - 00:00
Temptation - and dalmatians - in the midlandsForcing its narrow path through the black sky, a determined winter sun illuminates the approach to AthloneMon Dec 08 1997 - 00:00
The Bush Theatre Book, edited by Mike Bradwell (Methuen, £9.99 in UK)Anyone who believes in theatre as a passionate, living, chaotic, daring business - and particularly all those who know that the…Sat Nov 29 1997 - 00:00
A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter (Harvill, £6.99 in UKFirst published in 1967 in the New Yorker, Salter's taut, elegiac narrative manages to beguile the reader - if ultimately to …Sat Nov 29 1997 - 00:00
The lost language of loveIn 1984, the young American writer David Leavitt had his first collection of short stories publishedSat Nov 29 1997 - 00:00
Adrift at the end of the worldProust and James Joyce are acknowledging masters of the European novel; the Austrian Robert Musil is less well known, although…Sat Nov 22 1997 - 00:00
Feeling no painSaturday afternoon: it's a bright, dry day and the leaves continue to fall, softening the cityThu Nov 13 1997 - 00:00
There he goesIn the opening sequences of In Production: Joe Dowling At The Guthrie, a new documentary which chronicles his production of Friel…Tue Nov 11 1997 - 00:00
Big FryArmed with an impressive vocabulary, flawless delivery and extensive experience of the English public-school system, the schoolboy…Thu Oct 30 1997 - 00:00
Oscar comes out at last - within sight of homeCelebration and muted outrage greeted the unveiling of a new sculpture honouring the writer Oscar Wilde yesterdayWed Oct 29 1997 - 00:00
Controlled complexityCzech writer Ivan Klima's The Ultimate Intimacy (Granta, £12Sat Oct 25 1997 - 01:00
The Stonemason By Cormac McCarthy (Picador, £6.99 in UK)Four generations of a more-than-typically mixed up family act out their stories in this grim, traditional domestic melodrama …Sat Oct 25 1997 - 01:00
More endearing hocus pocusIn a line-up of any literary originals, American writer Kurt Vonnegut, now 75, would have to stand apart - if not exactly as …Sat Oct 18 1997 - 01:00
Booker goes to tipped Indian's first novelThis year's Booker McConnell prize for fiction has been won by an Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, for her first novel The God of…Wed Oct 15 1997 - 01:00
It was a dark and stormy night. . .Novelist Peter Carey has always been interested in the grotesque, as was evident as early in his career as Illywhacker (1985). …Sat Oct 11 1997 - 01:00
Dead SoulsMagritte meets David Lynch in Carbone 14's extraordinary dance theatre production of shifting images, moods and tones, conceived…Tue Oct 07 1997 - 01:00
John Banville wins Lannan Literary Award worth $75,000The novelist John Banville is among the six recipients of this year's Lannan Literary AwardsTue Oct 07 1997 - 01:00
A fresh look at WoolfWoolf's role in the making of literary modernism has overshadowed the fact that she was essentially a late Victorian and a product…Sat Sept 27 1997 - 01:00
Surfing the Zeitgeist, by Gilbert Adair (Faber, £9.99 in UK)These essays are mainly revised versions of pieces Gilbert Adair wrote for the Sun- day Times, and that is the rub: he is an …Sat Sept 27 1997 - 01:00
After Rain, by William Trevor Penguin,£6.99 in UK)Recently shortlisted for the Irish Times Irish Literature prize, Trevor's ninth short-story collection is an impressive testament…Sat Sept 27 1997 - 01:00
Speaking For The ChurchNot only has the role of the Catholic Church changed dramatically in Ireland's increasingly secularised society, the traditional…Thu Sept 18 1997 - 01:00
Now, if I had my wayAllowing for the fact that this is Ireland where we don't let anyone away with anything, I believe this year's Booker Prize should…Tue Sept 16 1997 - 01:00
The Book Of OzIn common with many novelists and poets living in countries torn by internal conflict, the Israeli writer Amos Oz is accustomed…Thu Sept 04 1997 - 01:00
The day the balloon went upA romantic homecoming picnic ends abruptly for Joe Rose in Ian McEwan's new novel, Enduring Love (Cape, £15Sat Aug 23 1997 - 01:00
In search of Homer in old AlbaniaOral epic poetry, racial mistrust, a political intrigue which is at times as comic as it is sinister, along with clashes between…Sat Aug 16 1997 - 01:00
Earthly Possessions, by Anne Tyler (Vintage, £5.99 in UK)Everything you ever wanted to know about that weird old experience called life is invariably explored with insight and humour…Sat Aug 16 1997 - 01:00
In the footsteps of the saintA number of interesting books, including the reissue of Marie Herbert's definitive Iona, Kells and Derry (1988), have appeared…Sat Aug 16 1997 - 01:00
Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood (Virago, £6.99 in UK)Is the clever, knowing Grace Marks a killer or a victim? Is she depraved? Or is she merely crazy? Margaret Atwood takes the facts…Sat Aug 16 1997 - 01:00
In the picture palaceCyrus, the personable young narrator of Ardashir Vakil's engaging debut, Beach Boy (Hamish Hamilton, £14Sat Aug 09 1997 - 01:00
SUBURBIAYOUTH and FREEDOM APPEAR TO BE FAIRLY MAJOR BURDENS, AT LEAST IN THE HANDS OF THE UNHAPPY CHARACTERS IN ERIC BOGOSIAN'S GRIM …Fri Jul 25 1997 - 01:00
