Trailer trash
Viggo Mortensen channels the spirit of Sigmund Freud, Southwark says no to Brit grit, and let's hear it (again) for UndefeatedViggo's Freudian slip One of the strangest interviews I've ever conducted happened last week when I met Viggo Mortensen in Sig...
I Married You for Happiness by Lily Tuck – review
An elegant novel about the anatomy of a marriage dwells more on art – and maths – than emotionThis novel is an elegant vigil – a long night's journey into day. A wife, Nina, sits with her husband, Philip, who has died of a heart attack. She waits...
The Trials and Triumphs of Les Dawson by Louis Barfe – review
A new life of Les Dawson celebrates a great British comic talent too often overlookedIt's May 1967, in the days when Britain really had talent. Hughie Green is hosting yet another of his Opportunity Knocks. And here, at last, comes fame, banging on the...
Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Very British Coup by Christopher de Bellaigue – review
This fascinating biography of a 1950s Persian nobleman and politician explains much of Iran's antipathy towards BritainIran is the only country in the world where people think that secretly, behind the charade, America is Britain's poodle. The eponymou...
Occupy!: Scenes From Occupied America; edited by Astra Taylor, Keith Gessen et al – review
A collection of essays from those involved in the Occupy movement is both analytical and full of vivid experienceAfter the autumn of discontent comes, inevitably, the winter of writing it all up. An enormous amount of ink has been spilled – and even ...
Piltdown Man: British archaeology’s greatest hoax | Robin McKie
When the find was revealed to be a 'cheap fraud', several eminent men – including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – were put in the frame. Now scientists aim to put an end to the mystery once and for allIn a few weeks, a group of British researchers wi...
Jonathan Franzen is wrong: the digital age is making us smarter | Henry Porter
Jonathan Franzen says the e-reader is a threat to our very systems of justice and self-government. He couldn't be more wrongIn the last few years of his life, Charles Dickens went on the road for a punishing schedule of public readings, which certainly...
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island – review
This new Jules Verne adventure yarn is a sequel to the ingenuous but surprisingly popular 3D version of Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The morose Josh Hutcherson, the only survivor from the earlier film, receives a coded message from...
Vincent Cassel: ‘You can’t escape from what you are’
The actor, trained ballet dancer, and husband of Monica Bellucci is a man of hidden depths. In his latest role, he plays an anarchic disciple of Sigmund Freud. So, asks Elizabeth Day, did he get to the bottom of why he's drawn to the dark side?Vincent ...
Great Scott! Fitzgerald is enjoying a third act