Previous Day
Lfe is not so beautiful for Benigni
Oscar-winner film-maker Roberto Benigni could do little wrong in his Italian homeland, but his Pinocchio has put several noses out of joint. Philip Willan reports. p
Devastating the 'empty land'
As Ecuador rushes to boost exports with a new pipeline - and US oil companies show no scruples about exploiting a unique environment - the country's rainforest and its indigenous peoples face catastrophe, reports John Kavanagh. p
Features
A night out with the wild boys
The saviours of rock 'n' roll or drug-crazed rockers? Ian Gittins enters the wonderful and frightening world of Queens of the Stone Age. pWebWorld: www.fse-esf.org
This week, a look at www.fse-esf.org p
Exposing memory's limitations
False Memory , Willie Doherty's retrospective at IMMA, is an encapsulation of the recurring issues in his work, especially those relating to the recent history of the North, he tells Aidan Dunne. pA taste of Tratt
Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' was a publishing sensation. Now, 10 years later, in Ireland to talk about her new novel, she tells Kathryn Holmquist about writing, drinking whiskey and her book - but little about the woman behind the Dickensian facade. p
Serving on the road to peace Biography
BIOGRAPHY: As someone who worked on occasion with Dr Martin Mansergh during his years in the public service, I took up this biography with interest. pA life in review
MEMOIR: In 1971 Barry Norman was attending a lunch for television critics at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Afterwards, in the men's toilet, he found himself standing next to an old friend, Martin Jackson, who asked, "How do you fancy going on television?" pThe Man, the music
BIOGRAPHY: The1960s in Belfast were full of music. The city centre had many clubs and dance halls, pubs and "hops" where an extraordinary variety of performed music was on display. pA boy's own tale
FICTION: Thomas Kenneally's latest novel in what has been a prodigious output is a strangely old-fashioned affair. The cover would have you believe that it is a World War two take on The Thornbirds, Colleen McCulloch's steamy 1970s "what the bishop did" bestseller. pBest-selling eccentric fiction
FICTION: Is the bond between reading, writing and drinking quite as intense as the German writer Michael Krüger considers it to be? I'm not sure. But he certainly makes a strong and funny case for a serious examination of these possibly complex, possibly irrelevant relationships in what he describes as 'Epilogue: Alcohol and Literature'. pMacabre tale of Deep South
FICTION: Mother's Day in a small town in Mississippi, and everyone in the Cleve household is rushing around organising a big family get-together, worrying about the menu, the flowers and the good linen napkins. pThe priest of nothingness
BIOGRAPHY: Georges Bataille was not a nice man. He had a placid face and wore elegant suits. He worked as a highly esteemed librarian in the archeological archives in Paris and lived a dutiful life with his widowed mother until he married a good bourgeois Parisian at the age of 38, with whom he later fathered a child. pFrom majestic Colorado to the Cambridgeshire Fens
CRIME FILE: Michael Painter reviews this weeks collection of crime fiction. pLess than perfect zoo
POETRY: 'Anthologies are to poets as the zoo is to animals." So said the American poet, David Antin, thereby raising the question, what kind of zoo is this? Do the animals confront us for weekend entertainment or for serious instruction? pMurphy's intellect and heart
POETRY: Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the inaugural production of Tom Murphy's first full-length play, A Whistle in the Dark, at the Theatre Royal in Stratford East. pFare well, frail vessels!
POETRY: These three first collections of poetry make frail vessels indeed on the rough tides of the book trade. In spite of what flaws one may find in any poet's early work, we must wish these three good poets calm seas and prosperous voyage. pPaperbacks
Irish Times reviewers look at this week's selection of paperbacks. p
Accessing the shimmering beauty of our bogs
ANOTHER LIFE/Michael Viney: For some years now, the plastic-lined garden pond has given clear notice of its intention to become first a fen, and then a bog. Each autumn, the task of cutting away the plants that hide the water and dragging them out to drain at the rim (so that froglets, nymphs and beetles get a chance to plop back in) becomes more back-breaking and futile. pHorizons
Antarctica: Antarctica, the coldest, windiest and highest continent on Earth, is the subject of an exhibition and lecture series in Tralee, Co Kerry, during Science Week, which begins on Monday. pEye On Nature
Readers' observations and questions on nature p
