ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
Latest editorial
Historical materialism rather than wishful thinking
CARLOS MARTINEZ puts under the microscope some of the misinterpretations that have bedevilled the analysis of the Spanish Civil War
KEITH RICHMOND relishes a superbly conceived modern version of Aeschylus’ drama of murderous family succession
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a minimalist installation that prompts intriguing connotations
FIONA O’CONNOR questions the achievement of this year’s Orwell prize winner for political fiction
LEO BOIX reviews two powerful Latin American novels in which myth and crime fiction expose the deadly consequences of patriarchy, clandestine abortion and state violence
New releases from Laura Veirs, The Waterboys, and Yard Act
Ron's rages are sincere and — according to his wife — healthily cathartic. But can these splenetic outbursts loosen the grip of capitalism at its most monstrous?
Spain's Left Critics by JR Campbell;
George Orwell and Spain by Bill Alexander
Manifesto Heritage, £6
George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia is, for many, the defining account of the Spanish Civil War. Although it took up the ideological perspective of just one of the many different factions that participated in that war, and although Orwell’s personal experience of the action was limited to a short stint on a quiet front, Homage to Catalonia has been reissued dozens of times and is on school and university curricula throughout the Western world.
Orwell’s perspective made its way even further into the popular consciousness as a result of socialist film-maker Ken Loach’s 1995 film Land and Freedom, which unfortunately is based largely on Orwell’s narrative.
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