Book Review: Traveller of the Century
“Who is responsible for deciding where a work sits in the literary hierarchy…?” asks Hans, the protagonist of Andrés Neuman’s prize-winning novel, Traveller of the Century. “Who decides which books are nonsensical? The critics? The press? The universities? Oh, please don’t start telling us that all opinions are relative, let’s show some nerve, someone has [...]
Book Review: Christopher McIntosh’s The Swan King
The Fairy-Tale Life of Mad King Ludwig The Swan King is Christopher McIntosh’s revised biography of the eccentric Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-86), dubbed by…
Subversive Conventionality: Vienna Undervalues its Small Stages
At the end of June, after 38 years of exits and entrances, the curtain at the International Theatre on Porzellangasse will fall for the last…
Relatively Speaking, by Alan Ayckbourn
Relatively Speaking, by “the British Neil Simon”, is a slow motion farce that might have been subtitled “Who are you sleeping with, and exactly who…
Mark Twain’s America
“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” So said Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen-name of Mark Twain, to a bemused reporter…
Faith, Hope, and Rioting
If you take the 49 tram downhill through the 7th District, just before you reach the MuseumsQuartier you’ll turn…
Engaging Shaw: a Playwright’s Private Comedy
In 1913, George Bernard Shaw’s most famous play, Pygmalion, which in its various forms was to win both…
Book Review: Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve
Lucretius for Dummies I have a little story of my own about the discovery of Lucretius’ philosophical poem…
The Artist Unrevealed
“Gustav Klimt? Cash Cow!” declares a video reporter on the Leopold Museum’s home page for its exhibition Klimt…