Commercial art forms may yet save the Western tradition from its propensity to self-destruction

Composers who try to create culture in a vacuum will struggle to be heard by a hostile public

A new biography of the American novelist presents a comic genius who never claimed to be exemplary

In the era of Putin and Islamic State, we shall have to  dust off Clausewitz and confront reality

Three refugees saw the Third Reich as the enemy of civilisation. Today we can learn from their example

A filial memoir of Britain’s apostle of modernism in art

Leo Tolstoy's study of adultery is widely thought of as a romantic work. But don't send it to your lover

They cast their literary spells over a generation, but have Martin Amis and Ian McEwan merit as moralists?

A personal reminiscence of the Nobel laureate, whose anti-apartheid novels masked her own ruthless ideology

A hundred and fifty years after his death, John Clare remains the
greatest lyricist of country life