Explore Essays and memoir
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The General
Isabel Hilton
‘The kitchen telephone would ring and it would be Gustavo Stroessner, the General's son, bellowing in that strange accent down a fuzzy line from Brazil, like an unruly fictional character nagging for a larger part in the plot.’
Arithmetic on the Frontier
Declan Walsh
‘These days the tempest of Taliban violence ripping across the frontier has shaken Peshawar to its core.’
A Guide to the City of Beirut
Fawwaz Traboulsi
‘In Beirut, a well reveals layer upon layer, generation after generation, of ruins.’
The Magic Box
Olivia Laing
‘It never gets dark in Times Square. Sometimes I’d wake at two or three or four and watch waves of neon pass through my room.’ An essay on David Wojnarowicz's work, life and archives.
Delinquent in Derry
Nik Cohn
‘Across the river, in a Catholic enclave in the Waterside district, there was a disused funeral home in which, three nights a week, at 6d a shot, contraband teen movies could be sat through and sometimes seen, according to the state of the projector.’
Cary Grant’s Suit
Todd McEwen
‘North by Northwest isn't a film about what happens to Cary Grant, it's about what happens to his suit.’
Frank’s Place
Richard Williams
‘Marilyn Monroe spent a couple of nights at the Cal-Neva. Sinatra knew she was in a bad way.’
Seven Days in Syria
Janine di Giovanni
‘I had come to Syria because I wanted to see a country before it tumbled down the rabbit hole of war’
West
Caryl Phillips
‘Curling herself into a tight fist against the cold, Martha huddled in the doorway and wondered if tonight she might see snow.‘
Do Fish Feel Pain?
James Hamilton-Paterson
‘There will always be an unbridgeable conceptual gap between our unique species and the rest.’
