Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

The fine hand of the artist and the musician has gone a long way for some of history's great and terrible figures.

George Herbert's architectural approach to poetry is ideal reading when stuck indoors.

Few historical figures have left such a lasting impression on such a variety of cultures as Alexander the Great.

Seamus Heaney’s poems are a valuable, moving register of individual intimacy and national pain.

Georgius Agricola's De Re Metallica gives us a fascinating insight into the late medieval view of metal and its uses.

Cricket was one of the few sports that was played near-normally this summer - its modern form is a welcome emblem of global connection.

The Camden Town Group capture both the claustrophobia and possibilities of domestic life.

The pandemic has forced us all to live more wholesome lives, but some danger still exists between the pages of the novel.

Evelyn Waugh's humour is sparkling and amusing, but with its anti-authority jibes and social commentary it is more than just a light laugh.