Gianni Schicchi. Review by Barbara Lewis. Gianni Schicchi, the protagonist of Puccini’s only wholly comic opera, was a 13th-century Italian knight immortalised by Dante in the Circle of Impersonators for pretending to be the rich gentleman Buoso Donati and dictating a testament highly favourable to himself.
Poetry review – KEY TO THE HIGHWAY: Wendy French addresses the complexity and depth of Chris Hardy’s poetry.
Poetry review – PLATO’S PEACH: Carla Scarano reflects on John Freeman’s conversational and story-telling poems
Poetry Review – MOLLUSC: Stephen Claughton reviews Mark Totterdell’s new collection which is deeply concerned with the natural world
Poetry review – RECORDS OF AN INCITEMENT TO SILENCE: Chris Beckett experiences multiple responses to the poetry of Gregory Woods
THE HOUSE WITH TWO LETTER-BOXES: Emma Storr reviews a collection of well-drawn short stories by Janet Swinney
Poetry review – WHEN I KISS THE SKY: D A Prince admires Elizabeth Cook’s thoughtful and observant collection reflecting on the processes of change
Poetry review – WRECK OF THE JEANNE GOUGY: Louise Warren enjoys the interplay of poems and pictures in Colin Pink’s new collection
Poetry review – FRESH OUT OF THE SKY: Nick Cooke finds assured and versatile poetic craft in the latest collection by George Szirtes
Les Enfants Terribles (Melville) 1950 BFI Blu Ray 2021. When critics write of Les Enfants Terrible, Jean-Pierre Melville’s superlative film of Jean Cocteau’s novel, they use terms like “sibling rivalry” and “an obsessive incestuous relationship.’
The Great Melt By Alister Doyle Published by Flint Books My only churlish quibble with Alister Doyle’s highly readable distillation of years of meticulous research into climate change and sea level rise is that it might make the reader desperate for the kind of far-flung adventures we can no longer undertake lightly.
Poetry review – A WOVEN ROPE: Sue Wallace-Shaddad follows the thread of human experience running through these poems by Jenna Plewes
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2022 • Tags: books, poetry, Sue Wallace-Shaddad