The next wave on tumblr

Bernardo Atxaga is, I think, the foremost novelist writing in the Basque language, or at least the one who has been most translated into English. His book The Accordionist’s Son, first published in 2003, and published in English five years later, is—like his earlier book Obabakoak—set in the imaginary village of Obaba. This is found somewhere south of or southwest of San Sebastian, a half an hour…

One of the mysteries of the current British Labour government has been its obsession with the party group known as Blue Labour, which espouses a form of social democracy that marries social conservatism with progressive economic policies. This isn’t just a parochial issue: it seems to be a feature of many struggling social democratic parties at the moment. (Andy Warhol, Vesuvius. Photo: Andrew…