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Eternal student of extremes
Though his prose is as surgically precise as ever in his new novel, Ian McEwan, like his work, has become less intimidating and more humane, as Eileen Battersby discovers p

Apted's adaptable aptitude
Versatile British director Michael Apted has made everything from country music biopics to Bond films and social documentaries. He talks to Donald Clarke about staying flexible p

Irish dancing without the jigs
Jerry Pearson's work 23 years ago made a lasting impression on Irish dance, writes Michael Seaver p

Arts

Metaphors for modern times
CultureShock/Fintan O'Toole: Sam Shepard's new play is an artist's critique of the state of the US, in which a journey back to authenticity is an aesthetic response to politics p
Soundings through the ages
OnTheTown/Catherine Foley: Dorothy Cross recently filmed an elderly shark-caller, Salam Karasimbe, singing on a remote island in the south Pacific. The short film forms part of her new show, Sapiens, which opened at Dublin's Kerlin Gallery this week. Like a sean-nós singer, his song reaches back through the ages; then, Cross explained, "in the middle of it he started to cry". p
Cat Laughs in good company
ArtScape/Deirdre Falvey: Being described as possibly "the world's best little comedy festival" is not at all patronising. Especially when you're bracketed with Montreal, Edinburgh and Melbourne. p

About Us

Diary of a culture collector
The travel journal of Séamus Ennis, legendary recorder of Irish stories and music, is a rich record of another era, writes Pól Ó Muirí p
Enduring magic of creatures in a cabinet
Another Life/Michael Viney: My teenage town of Brighton was great for free museums, essential to the reveries of a non-sporting boy with a bike. At the Royal Pavilion there was a library that let me take nine books at once and two floors of huge stuffed animals, totem poles and Roman things dug up on the Downs. p
Restoration eco-drama
Horizons: A new information hub for individuals, community groups, businesses and government agencies keen to find out more about ecological restoration was launched earlier this month. p

Book Reviews

Rockets and the right stuff
History: Not that I remember it, but on July 20th, 1969, I was whisked out of my cot and popped down uncomprehendingly in front of the television to watch a piece of history. Quite what I made of Neil Armstrong taking his "small step" is anyone's guess, but I have always been curiously glad that I saw the first man set foot on the moon. I was hardly alone. p
Limp gags that pack a punch
Fiction: The chance, or make that hope, of earning money by picking English strawberries brings a mixed group of foreign workers together. They are not all students attracted by the possibility of having some fun while gathering their college fees. p
Titles to acquire without conquest
Local History: There are few true aristocrats in Ireland today and gentry, landed or otherwise, are equally thin on the ground. Yet it is still interesting to read about those who did, and do, lay claim to such titles. p
A master of the metaphor
Ethics: 'The problem with modern life," writes Terry Eagleton, "is that there is too much meaning as well as too little." It's a problem the critic and Marxist literary theorist has long embodied in his own prose: just as his writing bristles with surprising similes, you sense that Eagleton is not saying anything very startling after all. p
Pre-eminent poet of experience
Poetry: Forty years after her first book, New Territory, was published, Eavan Boland's work continues to deepen in both humanity and complexity. This is the more remarkable since her highly-articulated ars poetica has already remapped the territory of contemporary poetry. But Domestic Violence does just what its title implies; breaking apart the certainties of those very domestic interiors which Boland has famously made her own. p
Closing the book on a costly secret
Interview: Novelist and former Observer food critic John Lanchester tells Louise East about his new memoir, which explores his mother's background in rural Ireland and the identity fraud she concealed until her death p
Orange list peels away the dross
Loose leaves: Proven heavyweights Jane Smiley, Margaret Forster and Anne Tyler gave the longlist for the women-only Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction a stately look when announced this week but apparently, in order to get that longlist, a lot of dross was waded through and rejected. p
Paperbacks
The latest paperback releases. p
Ticking the boxes on the Blair years
Fiction: It is inevitable that as Tony Blair makes his escape at some point over the next few months, we will have to endure quite a lot of looking back at the last decade - that putatively coherent block of contemporary British history to be known, probably, as The Blair Years. p
A new look at New World brutality
American History: The settlement and conquest of the American continent has long been recognised as a central theme of American history. In 1893, American historian Frederick Jackson Turner would remark, "Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West". p

Seen & Heard

How did 'Lost' lose the plot?
PresentTense/Shane Hegarty: This week's episode of Lost ended with one of its better twists in some time. Good thing too, because the drama's grip is perceptively weakening. It used to keep the viewer hooked on a slow drip of information and revelation, but this third season is irritating for how obviously and clumsily it withholds answers. p
Another dreary 'cheers'
TV Review/Hilary Fannin: Growing up in Dublin in those drizzly years between the settling of the dust of Nelson's Pillar and long before the erection of the gleaming Spire, one had certain cultural expectations around St Patrick's Day that were rarely disappointed. p
Listening to Keane vent some spleen
RadioReview/Bernice Harrison: Charities who rope in a celebrity for a bit of publicity must look in awe and a little envy at the column inches and radio minutes that Roy Keane delivers every time he sets foot here for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. They don't just get a couple of cheesy pictures in the papers, they get mass coverage, because when Keane opens his mouth, controversy and choice lines spill out. p

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Eternal student of extremes

Apted's adaptable aptitude

Irish dancing without the jigs

Metaphors for modern times

Soundings through the ages

Cat Laughs in good company

Diary of a culture collector

Enduring magic of creatures in a cabinet

Restoration eco-drama

Rockets and the right stuff

Limp gags that pack a punch

Titles to acquire without conquest

A master of the metaphor

Pre-eminent poet of experience

Closing the book on a costly secret

Orange list peels away the dross

Paperbacks

Ticking the boxes on the Blair years

A new look at New World brutality

How did 'Lost' lose the plot?

Another dreary 'cheers'

Listening to Keane vent some spleen

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