It's easy to be blinded by the dazzle of Clive James's many talents. Yet his most enduring claim to greatness is not his novels, satire or journalism, but his exquisite essays and poems

She's not to everyone's political taste, but she's a mean poet

America's universities sheltered David Foster Wallace—and almost ruined his writing

We have a need for a mysterious power greater than us. That need was once met by religion—but now it is supplied by "Incredible Hulk" financial capitalism

The world's artists have moved to Berlin. It has cheap studios, cheap flats and cheap beer. It's poor but sexy. And you can pick up a free trampoline on your way to work

The Greeks understood that comedy (the gods' view of life) is superior to tragedy (the merely human). But since the middle ages, western culture has overvalued the tragic and undervalued the comic. This is why fiction today is so full…

Adrift at sea, submerged in olive oil, all my bodily needs are satisfied, and I can dream

Were it not for the need to pee, Jude might discover the secret of his birth