A S H Smyth › Hiroo-worship

Skip to content

Tag Archives: WG Sebald

Hiroo-worship

Monday, October 25, 2021

Review of Werner Herzog’s Das Dämmern der Welt – or (probably) The Twilight/Dawn (of the?) World. — For Perspective

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged army, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Audible, audiobooks, Emperor Akihito, Ferdinand Marcos, German, Google Translate, Hanser, Hiroo Onoda, Japan, kochbananen, Lubang, non-fiction, Perspective, Philippines, the Falklands, the moon, the Stasi, translation, TS Eliot, Vietnam, war, Weltanschauung, Werner Herzog, WWII | Comments (0)

Did The English Patient send me to Afghanistan?

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Two nights from now, by way of (ahem) a birthday present, I will be attending a live-orchestra screening of The English Patient at the Albert Hall. I had invited an old friend, a raven-haired young lady (named in Debrett’s) of impossibly romantic tendency, who first exposed me to the film in, I’d say, about 1998 […]

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Academy Awards, Afghanistan, Ahmed Hassanein, air travel, American University in Cairo, anatomy, Anthony Minghella, Arabic, army, Banana Republic, bedouin, Benny Goodman, Booker Prize, books, bookshops, Brighton, Bruce Chatwin, Byron, Canada, Charing Cross Road, Christopher Hitchens, clothing, Debrett's, deserts, Dorset, Egypt, Egyptology, exploration, film, French Foreign Legion, Gabriel Yared, Geoff Dyer, Geographical, Geographical Journal, Herodotus, Hungarian, Hungary, JM Coetzee, John Ball, John Hare, Joseph Conrad, Justin Marozzi, Kensington Gore, Kristen Scott Thomas, László Almásy, London, Long Range Desert Group, Lorenz Hart, love, Michael Ondaatje, mountains, music, novels, Orientalism, Oscar Wilde, Oxford, Picador, plums, Ralph Bagnold, Ralph Fiennes, Ranulph Fiennes, Richard Bermann, Robert Twigger, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Geographical Society, Saul Kelly, Sinai, SOE, song, South Africa, the Himalayas, the Nile, The Oldie, the Sahara, the Western Desert, war, William Golding, wind, women, WW2, YouTube, Zerzura | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.1

Saturday, February 4, 2012

In which James Bond, Beyoncé Knowles, WG Sebald, Daniel Craig, Grant Gee, Alain de Botton, Eddie Redmayne and that girl with the dragon tattoo are discussed. — For theartsdesk

Filed in column, Journalism | Also tagged Alain de Botton, Beyoncé, Daniel Craig, Eddie Redmayne, film, Germans, Grant Gee, James Bond, literature, music, Sebastian Faulks, Sweden, theartsdesk, TV, war | Comments (0)

After Wood (after Sebald)

Friday, January 27, 2012

… and it was here, while re-reading an article by the American critic James Wood on the oneiric nature of the writings of ‘Max’ Sebald, that I found myself impressed more and more by the feeling that it was in fact Wood himself who had at least once previously caused me to look up the […]

Filed in Fictions | Also tagged Americans, Germans, James Wood, literature, micro-fiction | Comments (0)

Interview(ed)

Thursday, June 9, 2011

(for the British School in Colombo yearbook 2010/11) 1. So, what’s with the beard? After I graduated from the War Studies Faculty at KCL I rather fancied myself as a war correspondent, so I grew the beard. Then I just rather fancied myself. 2. We somehow get the impression that you are always very sarcastic […]

Filed in Fictions, interview | Also tagged Alexander (‘the Great’), Amazonian tribesmen, Arthur Rimbaud, beards, Beethoven, books, Bruce Chatwin, Chooties, Christopher Hitchens, cynicism, Dr Gregory House, Dr Hannibal Lecter, Geoff Dyer, GF Handel, Helen DeWitt, Jacques Kallis, Jeffrey Barnard, Jim Morrison, JM Coetzee, John Nash, John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, literature, Lydia Davis, Margaret Atwood, Maurice Bowra, PE instructors, Peter O’Toole, Philip Seymour Hoffman, piano, Radiohead, Roald Dahl, Russell Crowe, school, sex, singing, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Sri Lanka, TE Lawrence, teaching, Thom Yorke, Toby Ziegler, university, War Studies, Wendy Cope, Yasmina Reza | Comments (0)

(Beer and) Roving on the literary circuit

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Despatches from the Galle Literary Festival (SL Sunday Times).

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Ashok Ferrey, Blaft, Claire Tomalin, David Blacker, Diran Adebayo, Galle Literary Festival, Geoff Dyer, Geoffrey Bawa, hangovers, Ian Rankin, Jehan Mendis, Kaveri Lalchand, Louise Doughty, Malinda Seneviratne, McSweeney's, Michael Frayn, Michael Meyler, Mohammed Hanif, Monica Narula, Neluka Silva, Philip Roth, Pradeep Jeganathan, Rana Dasgupta, Ru Freeman, Sarnath Banerjee, Shehan Karunatilaka, Shyam Selvadurai, Smriti Daniel, Spectator, Sunday Times (SL), Tokyo Cancelled, Ulrik Plesner, Wendy Cope | Comments (0)

In which the author expresses his love for Wendy Cope

Friday, January 29, 2010

Diary from the Galle Literary Festival (preamble).

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Antoine de St Exupéry, Antony Beevor, Artemis Cooper, Ashok Ferrey, Bevis Bawa, Claire Tomalin, Clive James, Erich Kastner, Galle Literary Festival, Geoffrey Bawa, Gillian Slovo, Ian Rankin, Kingsley Amis, literature, Louise Doughty, Michael Frayn, Prospect, Rana Dasgupta, Shyam Selvadurai, Wendy Cope | Comments (0)