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The Humbling: Philip Roth Sex, death, loneliness, old age: yes, it's another Roth novel. But this time, is the great American author merely repeating himself? New Statesman, October 29th 2009 The Last Bachelor: Jay McInerney Jay McInerney's bright lights may have been dimmed but sex in the city remains a constant source of satire, writes Jason Cowley. The Observer, January 11th 2009 Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell In investigating what sets geniuses apart, is Malcolm Gladwell also asking what makes him so special, wonders Jason Cowley. The Observer, November 23rd 2008 Indignation: Philip Roth Philip Roth's astounding and sustained period of late creativity has been notable for one unifying preoccupation: death. The Observer, September 14th 2008 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: Haruki Murakami It's clear that for Murakami, running has a moral dimension. The Observer, August 10th 2008 Unaccustomed Earth: Jhumpa Lahiri Lahiri is presently probably the most influential writer of fiction in America. Financial Times, June 2008 Exit Ghost: Philip Roth No matter which name Philip Roth chooses for his narrators or fictional alter egos, whether it is Nathan Zuckerman, David Kepesh or indeed even, slyly, Philip Roth, they invariably share many of the same urgent preoccupations. Financial Times, Oct 2007 Touchstones: Mario Vargas Llosa Before our meeting, I had considered him to be something of a poseur and dilettante, a self-styled Great Man, in the classic Latin American model. New Statesman, April 16th 2007 When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: Peter Godwin Peter Godwin's desire to chronicle the breakdown of Zimbabwe in When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, suffers from his reluctance to spend time in the country he calls home, says Jason Cowley. The Observer, March 4th 2007 Reporting: David Remnick David Remnick specialises in the long literary profile and, in his hands, it is a most capacious and flexible form - the ideal form, perhaps, for our age of globalised celebrity. New Statesman, September 18th 2006 Book reviews: Yasunari Kawabata Elegiac and exquisite, the fictions of Yasunari Kawabata were among the most memorable of the 20th century. Jason Cowley on a writer who knew the value of silence. New Statesman, August 21st 2006 House of Stone: Christina Lamb Christina Lamb tells the true story of a white farmer and his black servant before and after Mugabe in her illuminating and flawed House of Stone, says Jason Cowley. The Observer, May 14th 2006 Collected: Massive Attack Jason Cowley traces the career of the troubled, unique collective that changed the face of British dance music. New Statesman, March 27th 2006 My Life in the Bush of Ghosts: Brian Eno and David Byrne The first crossing of intelligent pop with strange samples still startles, writes Jason Cowley. The Observer, March 19th 2006 Tropic Moon: Georges Simenon For writers of colonial fiction, Africa held a dark erotic attraction, even if the message underlying their work was that Europeans have no place there. New Statesman, January 30th 2006 The Possibility of an Island: Michel Houellebecq If interest in Houellebecq's life and work remains inexorable, this is because, in many ways, the life is inextricable from the work. New Statesman, November 7th 2005 Aerial: Kate Bush She's still deep, if occasionally unfathomable. Jason Cowley delights in an alchemist's return. The Observer, October 16th 2005 Shalimar the Clown: Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie vividly explores our post-9/11 world in Shalimar the Clown, says Jason Cowley. The Observer, September 11th 2005 The Fight: Norman Mailer The leading character in Mailer's thrilling account of the 1974 world heavyweight boxing championship in Kinshasa - the Rumble in the Jungle - is not Muhammad Ali, as you would expect, or even his ferocious rival George Foreman, then thought by many to be unbeatable. It is not Don King... No, the main character is Norman Mailer, naturally enough. The Observer, May 8th 2005 A Jealous Ghost: AN Wilson AN Wilson is the latest author to succumb to the allure of Henry James in A Jealous Ghost. Why does he keep writing fiction, asks Jason Cowley. The Observer, April 10th 2005 Campo Santo: WG Sebald WG Sebald's last book, Campo Santo, offers further proof of his rare gift for tackling Germany's pain, says Jason Cowley The Observer, February 27th 2005 The Plot Against America: Philip Roth In portraying individual lives tethered to the forces of history, Philip Roth's new novel revisits the themes of previous work. But it also reveals an unexpectedly benign and forgiving side, writes Jason Cowley. New Statesman, October 11th 2004 Brief Lives: WF Deedes I had once been scornful of Deedes, whom I imagined to be the personification of Conservative Man, but of late I had begun to read his journalism--columns, despatches from sub-Saharan Africa, countryside diaries--with intensifying respect and admiration. New Statesman, July 26th 2004 Hey Nostradamus!: Douglas Coupland Ideal for the MTV generation, Douglas Coupland's fiction is becoming increasingly dark. New Statesman, September 8th 2003 Lanzarote: Michel Houllebecq Michel Houellebecq's Lanzarote portrays the author's unheroic struggle against ennui. New Statesman, July 28th 2003 In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories: Delmore Schwarz Delmore Schwartz's precociously brilliant account of an ill-fated courtship, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, was the peak of his career. The Observer, May 4th 2003 The Book Against God: James Wood James Wood, Britain's most brilliant literary critic, has published a novel. Can the merciless arbiter live up to his own critical standards? Prospect, Issue 85, April 2003 The Little Friend: Donna Tart After more than a decade of silence, Donna Tartt is back with a new novel that draws on her childhood in the American South. Jason Cowley on the secret of her success. New Statesman, October 28th 2002 Who's a Dandy?: George Walden Walden, in his desire for the curious story of the life and death of Beau Brummell to become more widely known, has gone ahead and translated Barbey himself. First, however, he offers his own thoughts on dandyism in an entertaining introductory essay. New Statesman, October 21st 2002 Fragrant Harbour: John Lanchester John Lanchester 's powers of pastiche remain undiminished in his new novel: Fragrant Harbour. The Observer, June 30th 2002 Retrospective: Gerhard Richter The critics are hailing Gerhard Richter as the saviour of painting in the age of conceptual populism. Jason Cowley finds out why. New Statesman, May 6th 2002 Youth: JM Coetzee Coetzee's gloomy hero questions life's meaning in his new novel Youth, but to little purpose. The Observer, April 21st 2002 Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: Alexandra Fuller A memoir from Alexandra Fuller and a study from Martin Meredith give a timely and frightening reminder of Zimbabwe's descent into anarchy. The Observer, February 24th 2002 Something to Declare: Julian Barnes Julian Barnes 's love affair with France is based on a wilful fantasy. The Observer, January 6th 2002 Mother Tongues: Helena Drysdale Modern travel writing is in crisis, too often no more than an indulgence of ego. But the books of Helena Drysdale have a rare difference. New Statesman, November 19th 2001 Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere: Jan Morris Arriving in Trieste in 1909, the Viennese playwright Hermann Bahr felt as if he were "nowhere at all", adrift in a city of ghosts. Anyone visiting Trieste for the first time today may experience a similar sense of dislocation. The Daily Telegraph, October 13th 2001 Vespertine: Bjork Jason Cowley on why Bjork's voice is like an icepick to the heart. New Statesman, September 17th 2001 On Histories and Stories: AS Byatt More and more novelists are appropriating real-life characters and the events of history for fictional ends. Why? Jason Cowley on the art of literary grave-robbing. New Statesman, December 4th 2000 Sex, Science and Self in Imperial Vienna: Otto Weininger A misogynist and anti-Semite, the philosopher Otto Weininger was obsessed by decay. Jason Cowley on the brief life and work of a disturbed icon of Vienna. New Statesman, August 21st 2000 Hemingway Vs. Fitzgerald: The Rise and Fall of a Literary Friendship: Scott Donaldson 75 years after The Great Gatsby, Jason Cowley remembers F. Scott Fitzgerald's doomed youth. The Guardian, April 8th 2000 Diary of a man in Despair: Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen never forgave himself for not murdering Hitler when he had the chance. Jason Cowley reads the fascinating war diaries of an aristocrat and pessimist. New Statesman, March 6th 2000 Hitler's Vienna: Brigitte Hamann The Vienna through which Hitler wandered in his youth was a melting pot of decadent turmoil, the capital of an empire in decline - a "research laboratory for world destruction". New Statesman, April 26th 1999 The Collected Works of Bruno Schulz: Jerzy Ficowski To read the fiction and correspondence of Bruno Schulz, knowing that he was murdered by the Nazis, is a bit like watching footage of passengers board a plane that later crashed: you long to warn him of the dangers ahead. New Statesman, February 12th 1999 Amsterdam: Ian McEwan Ian McEwan is a dualist: he divides the world into conflicting opposites and makes fiction from the sparks thrown up by their collision. The Times, September 19th 1998 |
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