D.H.Lawrence and the urge to write
The urge to write is not unusual. When I was a teacher I saw it in many of the children I taught. But not all. Some had a greater urge … Continue reading
A short story by Giovanni Verga
A young Sicilian woman called Nedda declares, at the end of a short story by Giovanni Verga, that it is better to be dead than alive and thanks the Holy … Continue reading
A Reader’s Diary, 21 May 2014
Three old Penguin paperbacks, bought from my local Oxfam bookshop, have given me a lot of reading pleasure in the last few weeks. The first was A High Wind in … Continue reading
D.H.Lawrence, the poet
D.H.Lawrence was simply a writer, in the way that a composer is a composer or an artist an artist. He wrote prolifically in every literary form and showed that he … Continue reading
Peasants
Peasants were a familiar part of the landscape of Russian literature until as a class, with the end of serfdom and the beginning of communism, they ceased to exist. We … Continue reading
Literary rambles
The low hills of English literature are better for rambling on than the high peaks. They are often a better guide to the culture and history of the times in … Continue reading
Neil Rathmell - writer 