A priceless precedent
Literary criticism owes a great debt to Anthony Julius, the divorce lawyer famous for representing Princess Diana and now Heather Mills-McCartney. John Sutherland explains why.
Non-critical thinking
Literary criticism doesn't have much to do with the literature anymore; it's all about politics, argues Jonathan Taylor.
Shakespeare & co.
Is the bard a symbol of English culture?
Online buzz helps Collins’ book venture
Midday: Former News of the World journalist-turned publisher Dan Collins has been forced to print an extra run of the company's first book after pre-launch buzz on the internet. By Mark Sweney.
The ideas interview: Frank Kermode
Britain's foremost literary critic tells John Sutherland why the study of English lit needs to become a tough subject again.
Canon fodder
Stephen Moss: It's madness to force-feed the classics to teenagers - it could put them off reading for life.
This reading list fails the test
John Sutherland: Anyone looking thoughtfully at the curriculum prescribed by Alan Johnson's Department for Education and Skills will be inclined to sum it up in one phrase: "Conservative".
Minister secures place of ‘heritage’ novels on schools list
Alan Johnson has moved to quash reports that changes to the curriculum will mean a "dumbing down" of English lessons, saying students will still study from a list of authors from before the first world war that includes Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Arthur Conan Doyle and George Eliot. However, he wants to begin debate on whether more modern authors should remain on the list.
Philip Rieff
Obituary: A New York academic and onetime husband of Susan Sontag, his books expressed a profound discontent with civilization.
Gallic grandeur
Frederick Brown tries to encompass Flaubert's massive, contradictory nature in a huge biography of literature's most obsessional stylist, says Adam Thorpe.
What the butler saw
Ian Sansom welcomes two more additions to the vast mountain of Proustiana: the memoirs of his valet Ernest A Forssgren and Proust in Love by William C Carter.
Street signs
Edward Hammond gives a practitioner's view of four authors' writings on graffiti.