Living by the Sword
Good novelists usually have an unmistakable voice. There are exceptions of course, and by what must seem a stroke of injustice, such novelists, no matter the other qualities they may have, rarely last.
Living by the Sword
In the main auditorium of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, the audience is gathering around a space that seems to have shifted slightly on its axis. Where the stage usually sits, there are extra rows of seats facing towards us; and the stage itself has become an oval...
Living by the Sword
Alistair Moffat has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and experience, and an insatiable curiosity. So it is just as well that he seems also to have an inexhaustible store of energy, both intellectual and physical.
Living by the Sword
When We Were Young *****Scottish National Portrait Gallery, EdinburghBrecht’s Journal ****Scottish Gallery, EdinburghJames McNaught, Unreliable Memories ****The Open Eye Gallery, EdinburghThe advent of photography changed our relationship with the world.
Living by the Sword
There had been rumblings of discontent for a while; unhappiness inside the company, signs of administrative unease in areas like the press office, and – in the end – a devastatingly critical Scotsman column by writer and Dundee University academic Kirsty Gunn.
Living by the Sword
Oh, Mum! The face was lit up. The eyes were shining. “It was… “ Big intake of breath… “A-mazing!” This outburst came from my eldest daughter following her first day on “work experience” in a historical archive ...
Living by the Sword
How conductor Robin Ticciati pulls it off is – well, nothing short of miraculous. This was the opening concert of his final season with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and it was brimming over with the meticulous attention to detail that has characterised his eight years with the orchestra ...
Living by the Sword
Even if you haven’t heard of PP Arnold, you have almost certainly heard her mighty soul voice on a host of classic recordings over the years, from Nick Drake’s Poor Boy to Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer to The KLF’s 3am Eternal and What Time Is Love?
Living by the Sword
Sixteen-year-old Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew member on a spaceship tasked with colonising Earth II in Lauren James’s Loneliest Girl in the Universe (Walker Books, £7.99). Hurtling through space towards an uncertain future, completely alone, Romy is struggling to keep herself together.
Living by the Sword
The Portrait Of A Lady by Henry James ends on one of the most daringly ambiguous suspended chords in literature. Will Isabel Osmond, née Archer, return from her cousin’s deathbed to her husband Gilbert...
Living by the Sword
For the last few weeks, this column has been devoted to the fierce and multi-faceted debate surrounding the removal of the chairlifts from Coire na Ciste in the CairnGorm Mountain ski area. The idea behind...
Living by the Sword
The last few years have seen some notable triumphs for writers who believe that less is more. Perhaps most obviously, Austria’s Robert Seethaler made the Man Booker International shortlist in 2016 for A Whole Life...
Living by the Sword
Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No 1 may not be the most virtuosic in the repertoire, but its compelling lyricism and underlying energy was captured to dazzling effect by soloist Sol Gabetta. Digging deep into the cello strings with her bow...
Living by the Sword
IT’S a pity, in a way, that this touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard is not officially part of Scotland’s current Luminate festival of creative ageing, because the mighty tale...
Living by the Sword
THE idea of the jury as a “little parliament” of citizens, and as one of the foundations of our liberty, looms large in British and Scots law. Yet if a jury is a parliament, it’s one where the members are usually obliged to sit in silence...
