‘Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet’, by Daisy Dunn
An imaginative journey into the life and work of an elusive Roman poet. Review by Harry Eyres
The Slow Lane: The Last Word
After 11 years, Harry Eyres’ column has come to an end. Here’s his first, from January 17, 2004
The Slow Lane: Thanks for taking a slow walk with me
Through this column, connections have been made and the conversation has broadened
The Slow Lane: Dangerous minds
Isis could be seen as a vast and terrifying collective outbreak of the Freudian concept of ‘acting out’
The Slow Lane: Horace – the best self-help there is
It is that forging and tempering that makes the poet’s utterances strong and flexible
The Slow Lane: Same street, new perspective
The quiet streets have that special Viennese quality of grandeur combined with melancholy and nostalgia
The Slow Lane: Inspiration is losing out to perspiration
Perhaps a lot of rugby has always been prosaic but I struggle to recall such a dearth of poetry
The Slow Lane: A wealth of culture brings its own riches
Participation in the arts has a hugely positive impact on people’s health and wellbeing
The Slow Lane: The sharpest satire is not all it seems
Caricaturist James Gillray was arrested over a print showing politicians kissing a new royal baby’s backside
The Slow Lane: A refugee’s tale of darts and bad sherry
A country’s values come into focus when seen by an outsider, contrasting them with his native country
The Slow Lane: A reunion with the ghosts of school days past
As I approached the hall where the relics of our vintage were assembled, I heard an unspirit-like roar
The Slow Lane: Handmade dumplings and a sense of humanity
Taipei’s MRT is the only underground railway where someone has offered to tie up my shoelace
The Slow Lane: Where Greek myths match today’s reality
The story of Sisyphus compares quite well with the experience of zero-hours contracts
The Slow Lane: An urban stage for nature’s grandest acts
The Guandu Nature Park in Taipei has an importance out of all proportion to its size
The Slow Lane: Gifts from the court of Federer
The extraordinary thing about Roger Federer is that he still loves playing tennis after all these years
The Slow Lane: Who is the greatest painter of them all?
Rembrandt and Velázquez were contemporaries, but in other respects could hardly have been more different
The Slow Lane: Have you got your shame face on?
Feelings of shame, unlike other emotions, are difficult to hide
The Slow Lane: Winter as a wonderland
‘There is a unique beauty to this time of year. Everything looks ghostly in the dense, opaque air’
The Slow Lane: True nature of the new greens
Have we gone from protecting nature to managing it on behalf of the Earth’s dominant species?
The Slow Lane: Class acts that transcended class
Mussorgsky and Toulouse-Lautrec reached out to people treated as extras rather than full human subjects
The Slow Lane: An appeal to our modern-day prophets
Too many poets have turned inward, speaking to their fellows rather than to the wider world
The Slow Lane: The big questions of sport
This is about reminding ourselves that we are animals, not adjuncts to computer terminals
The Slow Lane: Ancient lessons for modern lives
There are profound reasons for studying the languages, literature and civilisations of the Greeks and Romans
The Slow Lane: Common censorship
Three recent decisions have brought this issue into focus – and all three are lamentable and incoherent
The Slow Lane: Ripeness on the tree of life
Victor Erice is one of those rare film directors who show time passing apparently at its own pace
