The meaning of ecstasy
Simon Critchley’s On Mysticism shows how the language of religious rapture can help us teach us how to live.
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Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams is former Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, and a contributing writer to the New Statesman.
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Byron’s war on tranquillity
A new biography reveals how the poet’s life of extremes was echoed by the hyperactive irony of his work.
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Lexicon of loss
The history of the elegy reveals how the poetry of grief has the power to trouble, console and unite.
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Anne Boleyn’s blunders
A new history shows how the clever, ambitious queen was no match for the post-truth politics of Henry VIII’s…
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Homer’s history of violence
Emily Wilson’s translation of the Iliad reveals a bleak vision of the self-interest and savagery of humankind.
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The plans for a national Holocaust memorial need a rethink
The building’s design has been criticised and tangled in controversy – issues that such a project can well do…
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Shakespeare’s race problem
The playwright reflected the prejudices of his age, but he also questioned and undermined them.
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The limits of humanism
How do we reconcile our capacity for good and evil? Humanist thinking does not have all the answers.
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Britain’s original culture wars
A new history of the 17th century reminds us how bitter ideological conflicts have shaped our democracy.
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