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A Fight in Bethnal Green
Jeremy Harding
‘There was no sizing up, no graceful footwork, none of the rhetoric of the game: this was unmitigated invective.’
Summers in Norfolk
Roger Garfitt
‘I watch her arms as she moves about the room, almost in love with their colour.’
Deficits
Michael Ignatieff
‘Memory is what reconciles us to the future. Because she has no past, her future rushes towards her, a bat's wing brushing against her face in the dark.’
Polisario
Jeremy Harding
‘The wall began to look impressive, but its lethargy, the lack of activity anywhere along it, was exasperating.’
Gibraltar
Ian Jack
‘Everyone had theories which to a greater or lesser extent conflicted with the story in court.’
Ian Jack on the inquest into the SAS killing of three IRA members in Gibraltar.
Raymond Carver, 1938 to 1988
Tess Gallagher
‘We were married in Reno, Nevada. It was a very Carveresque affair, held in the little Heart of Reno Chapel across from the courthouse. Afterwards we went gambling at Harrah's Club and with every turn of the wheel I won. I couldn't stop winning.’
Kwangju and After
James Fenton
‘Some people said they were not ‘with’ the students. They were not in favour of the use of arms. But they were of one voice in saying that the students were their sons, and that if the army came in the students would be put to death. That was why they kept saying: “Tell the truth about us.”’
James Fenton on the Gwanju massacre.
Meeting Gorbachev
Václav Havel
‘By now the Glasnost Tsar has reached the spot where I am standing. He is rather short and stocky, a cuddly ball-like figure hemmed in by his gigantic bodyguards, giving the impression of someone shy and helpless.’
The Thirties
Martha Gellhorn
Martha Gellhorn on Paris in the thirties, cadging bed and breakfast off H.G. Wells and living in the White House with the Roosevelts.
J. D. Salinger versus Random House, Inc.
Ian Hamilton
‘In New York, Salinger was required to formalize his accusations. In his affidavit, he described himself as an “author of some renown” who had “elected, for personal reasons, to leave the public spotlight entirely”.’
