The Reader has tried since its earliest days to close up the gap between art and life, but as a magazine about literature isn’t it more relevant to bookish academics than busy working mothers? Once again the Reader returns to first principles, back to the values that make it different from most literary supplements and journals, bringing ‘book-wisdom’ to bear on ‘hard reality’.
Bel Mooney on the phenomenon of Harry Potter and crossover fiction:
Why enter another world? The better to understand this one.Jonathan Bate has art in mind as he links brain activity to creativity:
We are all born with brains, but are we born with minds? And when do we develop self consciousness?Gillian Avery tells the story of Arthur Mee and the Children’s Encyclopaedia:
His encyclopaedia did not aim at scholarship but at awakening curiosity and interest, at conveying some of his own excitement at what he had discovered for himself.
ALSO: Sarah Coley reads a difficult poem, Kate Price looks at science and poetry, John Welch on teaching poetry to immigrant children, reviews and recommendations of Philip Pulman, Primo Levi, Oliver Sacks, Coleridge and E.M Forster.
Editorial
When you open a book are you turning your back on life?
New Poetry
Christina Fletcher
Gary Allen
Philip Gross
Cliff Forshaw
Mark Mayes
New Fiction
Wilbur Sanders – Last Wish
New Essays
Jonathan Bate – Art in Mind: the relationship between brain and creativity
Kate Price – Poetry and Science: the two cultures
John Clarke – Nets of Sound: a reader in residence
Gillian Avery – Arthur Mee: Child of Wonder
John Welch – Arriving: immigrant children writing
Bel Mooney – Crossover Fiction: child to adult
Learning Curve
Adam Piette – The practice of poetry: Internal Rhyme and Denise Riley’s ‘Song’
Sarah Coley – Reading a difficult poem: Robert Browning, ‘Two in the Campagna’
Literary Problems – Discussion with Stephen Evans: Fredrick Manning, Her Privates We
Reviews
Jill Warriner – Oliver Sacks: Uncle Tungsten
Sue O’Connor – Ciaran O’Driscoll, A Runner Among Fallen Leaves
Ede Harter – S.T. Coleridge, Notebooks
Charlier Louth – D.J. Enright, Selected Essays
Recommendations
Helon Habila – E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel
Steve Palmer – Jean Améry, At the Mind’s Limits and Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved
Catherine Sheldon – Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials
Andrea Ashworth – Jane Shapiro, After Moondog
Reading Lives
Michelle Tatlor – Michael Rosen’s visit to a primary school
Rosie Garner – Meet the Reader
The Back End
Letters
Contributors
Crossword
Buck’s Quiz
Spotter’s Guide