The hunt for sleep has become a global industry, with apps, drugs, self-help remedies. In a new book, author Marie Darrieussecq contemplates the curse of insomnia.
The idea of healing benefits and emotional catharsis through reading is intuitively appealing. But does it work that way? Jane Turner Goldsmith finds answers in neuroscience, philosophy and more.
Marcel Proust on a French postage stamp.
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From ‘islands of pain’ to the ‘peril of exposure,’ writers have captured the fear, emptiness and despair that characterize life during the current pandemic, writes a poet and English scholar.
Stéphane Bourgoin fabricated his life story, including a murdered wife.
Wikimedia
Stories like ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Jane Eyre’ are still relevant today.
A signed copy of Marcel Proust’s ‘Du cote de chez Swann’ . Proust highlighted France’s bitter debate about the Dreyfus affair.
EPA/Christophe Petit Tesson
Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji, served in the Japanese imperial court. She transformed her experiences into an intricate narrative fusing fiction, history, and poetry.
Andrew Johnson, Bournemouth University and Andrew Moss, Bournemouth University
Studying odour memory is more than just an interesting diversion, it has practical uses too.
Peter Jackson and actress Saoirse Ronan promoting the film version of The Lovely Bones: the novel is told by an all-seeing narrator who is dead.
Sergio Perez/Reuters
In an age of uncertainty, in which truth is apparently an illusion and all claims to authority are suspect, it is tempting to believe that a first person narrator telling their own story – in a style that…
Mourners gather at a memorial for victims of the Nice, France attacks.
EPA/OLIVIER ANRIGO
The French novel uniquely blends social critique, personal struggle, entertainment and aesthetics – underpinned by an irony that winks at human weakness. Can it help us in these dark days of extremist violence?
This week’s Sydney Writers’ Festival not only celebrates the art of writing, but the art of reading. Of course, it is difficult not to worry that this might be because the art of reading – that is, deep…
Fan tributes on Oscar Wilde’s tomb.
Chrissy Hunt/Flickr
The desire to connect with literary places supports a substantial tourist trade. And the reasons why people embark on literary pilgrimages are as diverse as the kinds of fiction that inspire them.
A long list of commercial success stories has emerged from the self-publishing boom, sometimes with sales in the millions.
Nicolas DECOOPMAN
David Court, Australian Film, Television and Radio School
The view that art is essentially unworldly and creativity is play has a long history, dating back to the Romantics in the 18th century. According to this view, art must be kept separate from money, lest…
Outside of perfume-makers, there are few artists trained in the art of smell.
Image: Jessica Eucalyptus Quinnell
Roses and rotten eggs, teen spirit or napalm in the morning: smells can both delight and horrify. Some scents are so bewitching that humans have gone to great lengths to obtain them. Take ambergris, essentially…
Land of the freedom fries, home of the brave.
rikomatic
A spat between France and the US over international trade in music and films invites the usual stereotypes of Gallic snobbery versus the free market monster. But a closer look at the relationship between…