Perhaps best known for his “Vengeance Trilogy”, Park Chan-wook has demonstrated a fascination with the darker side of humanity and Stoker, his first English language film, is no exception. Stepping away from the graphic violence of Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Park’s latest offering places emphasis on the psychology of its characters, a move which only serves to Read More
“Only the story knows the when and the where of it. It makes an offer: enter the myth and it’s yours. We can make our lives from the story.” Clarke, Honey The National Poet of Wales took to her podium, in a cavernous, half-filled space, flanked and dwarfed by two large textile artworks. Her task was Read More
On the Friday night at StAnza, the distinguished Canadian translator and poet Erin Moure was paired to read with the first US winner of the TS Eliot Prize, Mark Doty. Moure’s work, influenced by post-structuralism, challenges many poetic norms, splitting and interrupting words and language. She opened with her translations of, and responses to, the Read More
The British “feel good” movie seems to have become somewhat of a trend in recent years; the kind of “tear jerkers” that deal with a sad subject matter, but conjure up an uplifting message which encourages everyone to believe that, through trial and tribulation, everything will work out in the end. Naturally, this is the Read More
Drawing her New South Wales trilogy to a stunning conclusion, Kate Grenville’s latest novel, Sarah Thornhill, appeals to the romantic soul and the aesthete alike. Once more South-east Australia’s Hawkesbury River provides the mise-en-scène in which the Sydney-born author’s drama unfolds – an untamed coastline that exhibits as much personality as any one of the novel’s Read More
This collaboration between Tessa Ransford and Iyad Hayatleh, both poets and translators, offers a creative amalgam that weaves religion, ritual and culture to produce some remarkable poems. Ransford, a founder of the Scottish Poetry Library met Hayatleh, a Palestinian from Syria, through the “Writers in Exile” committee of Scottish PEN. From a few translations of Read More
Robot and Frank, the feature debut from director Jake Schreier and screenwriter Christopher D. Ford, is something rare; a science-fiction movie with real human warmth at its core. Set in the not-too-distant future, the tale of ageing former cat burgler Frank Weld (Frank Langella) and his robot carer is both comic and at times poignant. Read More
Chris Dolan’s new book, Redlegs, relocates from the Glasgow of his previous work, Ascension Day, to the seemingly exotic location of the Caribbean. Set in 1830, the novel follows the history of the poor whites (redlegsis the pejorative term used to describe them) as they leave Scotland to work in sugar plantations. The plantation becomes the new home Read More
Véronique Tadjo; author, scholar, artist, educator, brings us her unique take on the original myth of the Baoulé people of Côte D’Ivoire Queen Pokou: Concerto for a Sacrifice; it won the 2005 Grand Prix Littéraire D’Afrique Noire. Parisian-born Tadjo was brought up in Abidjan by her French mother and Ivorian father; such a cultural heterogenity may Read More
Contemporary Germany is rightly celebrated for the healthy way that it continues to deal with its dark past of tyranny and genocide under the Nazis. Conspicuous public memorials and museums throughout Germany demonstrate the nation’s commitment to ensuring that the history of The Holocaust is not glossed over or forgotten. While the Third Reich and Read More