Read Wagner

How To Read English In India

Akshya Saxena | LARB | 10th July 2022

English in India has had many roles. Gandhi considered it "a language of slavery". Nehru acknowledged it as "a key to world knowledges". The framers of the Indian constitution saw it as "equally foreign to all" and thus "politically neutral". To many growing up in the 20C, it was the language of aspiration, still tinged with the tenets of colonialism but always full of promise and possibility (2,306 words)

A Madman’s Guide To Wagner

Philip Hensher | The Critic | 1st July 2022

Reminiscences of "a hopeless Wagnerian". Some of the music is so good that it "survives even a third-rate performance", while the rest requires expert handling. This piece concludes with a helpful ranking of the composer's most transformative passages. Good Wagner makes a permanent mark on the listener: "If I ever get a tattoo, it’s going to be of the first three bars of Parsifal" (1,425 words)