London Review of Books volume 27 number 24 15 december 2005 £2.99 us and canada $3.95

3 Julian Barnes

Georges Braque by Alex Danchev Landscapes in Provence 1750-1920 at theMontreal Musée des Beaux Arts Derain: The London Paintings at the Courtauld Institute

4 Letters

Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Andrew Nathan, Valentin Lyubarsky, Simon Cockshutt

6 Robin Robertson Poems: ‘Manifest’, ‘Answers’

7 Liam McIlvanney The Doorby Magda Szabó

9 Ilan Pappe

11 Bruce Cumings

15 Henry Day

17 Maurice Keen

The Disappointing Trajectory of Amir Peretz

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leaderby Bradley Martin Rogue Regime: Kim Jong-Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea by Jasper Becker

The Hall of a Thousand Columns: Hindustan to Malabar with Ibn Battutah by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

A Knight’s Own Book of Chivalryby Geoffroi de Charny TheMaster of Gameby Edward, Duke of York

18 Tony Harrison

19 Rosemary Hill

Poem: ‘Fireguard’

Miss Angel: The Art and World of Angelica Kauffmanby Angelica Goodden

20 Peter Campbell

Short Cuts

21 Susan Eilenberg All the Poems by Muriel Spark The Finishing Schoolby Muriel Spark

24 Michael Hofmann Selected Poemsby Adam Zagajewski In Defence of Ardour by Adam Zagajewski

26 Adam Mars-Jones Plat du Jourby Matthew Herbert

28 Daniel Soar

At Tate Modern

29 Hugh Pennington On MRSA

34 Tim Flannery

Dancing with Strangers: The True History of the Meeting of the British First Fleet and the Aboriginal Australians, 1788by Inga Clendinnen

35 Jenny Diski

Diary

editor:Mary-Kay Wilmers deputy editor: Jean McNicol senior editors:Paul Laity, Paul Myerscough assistant editors:Thomas Jones, Daniel Soar editorial interns: Joanna Biggs, Sameer Rahim contributing editors: Jeremy Harding, Andrew O’Hagan consulting editor:John Sturrock

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In the next issue, dated 5 January 2006, but likely to arrive before Christmas: Eliot Weinberger’s ‘What I Heard about Iraq in 2005’, and Alan Bennett’s diary. Ross McKibbin will write about the new Tory leader, the old Labour leader and our disappointment, Nicholas Penny about Venice, Michael Wood about Joan Didion, Frank Kermode about Doubting Thomas and David Runciman about José Mourinho.

Julian Barnes’s most recent novel is Arthur and George.

Bruce Cumingsteaches in the history department at the University of Chicago. He is the author of North Korea: Another Country (2003), and co-author of Inventing the Axis of Evil(2004).

Henry Dayis doing a PhD on Lucan, Seneca and the Sublime at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is a former intern at the London Review.

Jenny Diski’s On Trying to Keep Still will be published next spring.

Susan Eilenbergteaches English at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Strange Power of Speech: Wordsworth, Coleridge and Literary Possessioncame out in 1992.

Tim Flanneryis the director of the South Australian Museum and chair of the state’s Science Council. He is the editor of The Explorers: Stories of Discovery and Adventure from the Australian Frontier(2000).

Tony Harrison’s Under the Clock: New Poems was published in May by Penguin.

Rosemary Hill has finished her biography of A.W.N. Pugin. It will be out next year.

Michael Hofmann’s translation of Elias Canetti’s memoir Party in the Blitzcame out in July from Harvill. He is the editor of the Faber Book of 20th-Century German Poems.

Maurice Keenis an emeritus fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, where he was tutor in medieval history. His books include Chivalry (1984) and Origins of the English Gentleman(2002).

Liam McIlvanneyteaches at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of Burns the Radical: Poetry and Politics in Late 18th-Century Scotland and co-editor of Ireland and Scotland: Culture and Society 1700-2000.

Adam Mars-Jonesis the author of The Waters of Thirst, a novel, and Blind Bitter Happiness, a collection of essays.

Ilan Pappe’s most recent books are A History of Modern Palestine and The Modern Middle East. He teaches at the University of Haifa.

Hugh Penningtonlives in Aberdeen. He is president of the Society for General Microbiology, and the author of When Food Kills (2003).

Robin Robertson’s third collection, Swithering, is the Poetry Book Society choice for spring 2006.

LRB Annual Subscription Rates: UK(post free): £70.80; Europe and CIS(including postage): £85; USA(post free): $42; Canada(including postage): US$50; Rest of the World(including postage): £88 USA subscriptions:Toll Free: 1 800 258 2066; Fax: 740 389 6297; Canada subscriptions: Telephone: 815 734 1216; Canadian GST #R125261792. Periodicals postage paid at Bridgeport, Connecticut and additional entry points. Canada Post, Publications Mail permit no. 1802879 US Postmaster: send address changes to ‘London Review of Books’, PO Box 1953, Marion, OH 43306, USA. The London Review of Books (ISSN0260-9592), Vol. 27, No. 24 (US No. 588), 24 times a year. The journal is published with assistance from the Arts Council.

2 london review of books 15 december 2005