Art Kavanagh
@www.artkavanagh.ie
I write about books and literature: Andrew Marvell, Salman Rushdie, Tana French, that sort of thing. My newsletter, Talk about books, goes out every 2 weeks https://letter.talkaboutbooks.net/tabarchive
I’m still on the lookout for a piece of music by Bud Powell titled “Chick Corea”.
December 13, 2025 at 10:03 AM
I’m still on the lookout for a piece of music by Bud Powell titled “Chick Corea”.
As a critic, Carey was brilliantly insightful about a wide range of authors and periods but he was at his best writing about Andrew Marvell. This past few days I’ve been rereading his lecture “Reversals transposed: An aspect of Marvell’s imagination” (1978), which I haven’t reread often enough.
December 12, 2025 at 6:52 PM
As a critic, Carey was brilliantly insightful about a wide range of authors and periods but he was at his best writing about Andrew Marvell. This past few days I’ve been rereading his lecture “Reversals transposed: An aspect of Marvell’s imagination” (1978), which I haven’t reread often enough.
Well, we’re getting *some* redistribution of wealth. Unfortunately not in the right direction.
December 10, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Well, we’re getting *some* redistribution of wealth. Unfortunately not in the right direction.
I’m reading a mass market paperback from 1996 at the moment. The paper quality is much better than I was expecting.
December 10, 2025 at 5:04 AM
I’m reading a mass market paperback from 1996 at the moment. The paper quality is much better than I was expecting.
It would be at least as good an idea to break up the United States. Not necessarily into 50 sovereign states but say into 3: California, Orgon and Washington (with maybe Arizona and Nevada, if they were interested), a second bloc from Illinois over to Maine and south as far as Virginia at least.
December 7, 2025 at 4:23 PM
It would be at least as good an idea to break up the United States. Not necessarily into 50 sovereign states but say into 3: California, Orgon and Washington (with maybe Arizona and Nevada, if they were interested), a second bloc from Illinois over to Maine and south as far as Virginia at least.
Must be a different Peter Pringle, I guess.
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
Peter Pringle, whose convictions for murdering two gardaí in 1980 were quashed, has died
Peter Pringle was released from jail in 1995 after his convictions were deemed unsafe and unsatisfactory
www.irishtimes.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Must be a different Peter Pringle, I guess.
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
Noah be damn’d and all his race accurst,
That in sea brine did pickle timber first.
What though he planted vines! he pines cut down.
He taught us how to drink, and how to drown.
He first built ships and, in that wooden wall
Saving but eight, e’er since endangers all.
That in sea brine did pickle timber first.
What though he planted vines! he pines cut down.
He taught us how to drink, and how to drown.
He first built ships and, in that wooden wall
Saving but eight, e’er since endangers all.
December 6, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Noah be damn’d and all his race accurst,
That in sea brine did pickle timber first.
What though he planted vines! he pines cut down.
He taught us how to drink, and how to drown.
He first built ships and, in that wooden wall
Saving but eight, e’er since endangers all.
That in sea brine did pickle timber first.
What though he planted vines! he pines cut down.
He taught us how to drink, and how to drown.
He first built ships and, in that wooden wall
Saving but eight, e’er since endangers all.
Suddenly I know what you did last summer
(The next time your gay cousin is torn apart by feral youths, better make sure he really is dead.)
The Philadelphia Experiment Story
(The next time your gay cousin is torn apart by feral youths, better make sure he really is dead.)
The Philadelphia Experiment Story
December 4, 2025 at 6:11 AM
I don’t remember that much about it but I’m pretty sure it contains the only use of the adjective “steatopygous” that I’ve ever read anywhere.
December 3, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I don’t remember that much about it but I’m pretty sure it contains the only use of the adjective “steatopygous” that I’ve ever read anywhere.
For what it’s worth, here’s something I wrote about “Aubade” 18 months ago. I don’t think I’ve read the poem since then but I find the lines about “an only life” climbing “clear of its wrong beginnings” running through my head regularly
letter.talkaboutbooks.net/2024/05/05/n...
letter.talkaboutbooks.net/2024/05/05/n...
Art Kavanagh - Nothing to be afraid of: Seamus Heaney on the last things of Yeats and Larkin
A look at a lecture that Seamus Heaney gave while he was Oxford Professor of Poetry, in which he compared Philip Larkin’s “Aubade” with two poems by W B Yeats, to Larkin’s disadvantage.
letter.talkaboutbooks.net
December 2, 2025 at 4:31 PM
For what it’s worth, here’s something I wrote about “Aubade” 18 months ago. I don’t think I’ve read the poem since then but I find the lines about “an only life” climbing “clear of its wrong beginnings” running through my head regularly
letter.talkaboutbooks.net/2024/05/05/n...
letter.talkaboutbooks.net/2024/05/05/n...
Probably best if you don’t leave it too long, you might lose your chance.
December 2, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Probably best if you don’t leave it too long, you might lose your chance.
“This morning, I went whale watching, and the guide recommended that we “keep our eyes on the horizon and look for blow.” (This is also a good way to find RFK Jr.)”
That caught me by surprise and made me guffaw.
That caught me by surprise and made me guffaw.
December 2, 2025 at 12:51 PM
“This morning, I went whale watching, and the guide recommended that we “keep our eyes on the horizon and look for blow.” (This is also a good way to find RFK Jr.)”
That caught me by surprise and made me guffaw.
That caught me by surprise and made me guffaw.
The British artists formerly known as “young”.
December 1, 2025 at 5:10 PM
The British artists formerly known as “young”.
The YBAs aren’t all that young any more.
December 1, 2025 at 4:50 PM
The YBAs aren’t all that young any more.
A momentary pause isn’t adequate compliance with an order to “STOP”, so he’s a scofflaw either way.
December 1, 2025 at 9:11 AM
A momentary pause isn’t adequate compliance with an order to “STOP”, so he’s a scofflaw either way.
Deliberately ambiguous?
December 1, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Deliberately ambiguous?