Elective Affinities and Life of Monsieur de Moliere

We are delighted to share with you a review of Elective Affinities by Goethe and The Life of Monsieur de Moliere by Bulgakov, both published in the Guardian.

The constant relevance of the masterpiece by the most popular German author is highlighted: "Controversial in its day, as it lent itself to the interpretation that love could be reduced to a chemical attraction, the novella continues to be relevant. Despite a shift in mores, contemporary readers will recognise the emotional pressures and the problems that Goethe explores through his characters and the Romantic landscape." (Please click here to read the complete review)


John Dugdale also says about The Life of Monsieur de Molière that "in its playfulness and hybridity, this book looks forward to contemporary 'faction' that fuses fiction and biography." (Please click here to read the complete review)

Murdoch Me...

"The current days of the Internet are over," Rupert Murdoch has said in The Guardian article News Corp will charge for newspaper websites. While it's true that the Wall St Journal has been doing well, it makes me wonder whether less specialized newspapers are also likely to in the current climate, and how they will manage to time the switch – if they make it – to paid content with other competitors. I do believe that we are in a transitional phase of the Internet (I'm sure it'll be known as a 'Golden Age', rather like the 'Golden Age of Piracy' of the 18th century) – either quality journals will die out or they will start charging for content. We already have a glut of cheap, advert-driven, rapidly churned-out tat which seems to fulfil a certain portion of society's needs, but whether newspapers can convince enough people that it's actually worth paying for well-researched and intelligent news any more is another matter...