WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Distant socialising
Writer Jan Woolf reflects on the benefit of talking among your selves during lockdown
WRESTLING WITH HER SELF: Julia Gu
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
THEY used to say that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. Not at all, it’s a very sense-able thing to do.
But does one address oneself as “you” or “I?” Writer Ian McEwan pointed out that the self became fashionable late last century in the self-help universe, but Freud rattled his stick along the railings of the mind many years earlier, using mythological and religious constructs to define them.
In fact, there are many selves to talk to. There is your self and the one(s) others see but, in glorious isolation, they can be brought together and talk to each other. Which is what people in solitary confinement do to keep sane and to keep language honed and toned.
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JAN WOOLF relishes a book of poetry that deploys the energy of political struggle, rooted in post-war working class history and culture
