London Review of Books

Adam Mars-Jones: Ian McEwan’s ‘Nutshell’

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Even with the support of the Shakespearean framework the murder plot seems very thin. All the boldness has gone into the choice of point of view, leaving nothing left over for the world outside the womb. True, Claude the property developer is in need of money (he’s down to his last quarter million), and would dearly like to get his hands on the house in Hamilton Terrace, while Trudy’s love for John has turned to an exasperated hatred, made fully toxic when she discovers, or imagines, that he has a new partner of his own. But somewhere along the line what started out as cosmic tragedy has turned into an example of the despised Hampstead novel.

Jon Day: Emil Zatopek

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

He was the greatest long-distance runner of the mid-20th century, but he had an odd diet, fuelling himself before races with beer, cheese, sausages and bread. He drank strange concoctions that he thought would improve his performance: the juice from jars of pickles; a mixture of lemon juice (for vitamin C) and chalk (to protect his teeth). He ate the leaves of young birch trees because he had noticed that deer did so. Deer run quickly, he reasoned, so he might too. He experimented with eating dandelions, as well as ‘vast quantities of garlic’, and when people asked him why he told them: ‘The hare runs through the woods, eats what he finds – and he’s fine.’

Joanna Biggs: Marguerite Duras

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Lewis Biggs: At Land Art Mongolia

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Marina Warner: Those Brogues

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Letters

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The letters page from London Review of Books Vol. 38 No. 19 (6 October 2016)

Table of contents

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Table of contents from London Review of Books Vol. 38 No. 19 (6 October 2016)

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