ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
Latest editorial
Uncomfortable view of incarceration
RELIC OF THE PAST? HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in London
[Chmee2/Creative Commons]
Death comes for Liberals, entitled murder, Vatican hit squads, and fraternising with the Blitz killer
New releases from Public Image Ltd, William Basinski, and John Luther Adams
GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Bard pays homage to Hull’s finest promoter and venue, and awards Douze Points to Laibach
KEVIN DONNELLY outlines how the bourgeois institutions inhibit our ability to to view art in revolutionary ways, and suggests some tactics to overturn it
The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Philosophy
by Andy West
Picador £16.99
AUTHOR Andy West’s life has been inextricably linked to prison, with his father, brother and uncle all having served time. Now he himself is in prison, not for any crime, but to teach philosophy to inmates.
This thoughtful debut, like an underworld version of Sophie’s World, tells a deeply personal story — full of struggle, insight and dark humour — through the lens of philosophy and West’s compelling conversations with prisoners. Although at times it becomes apparent who is teaching who.
Similar stories
Looking for moral co-ordinates after a tough year for rational political thinking and shared human morality
JOHN GREEN welcomes a remarkable study of Mozambique’s most renowned contemporary artist
JOHN GREEN, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Holloway, The Last Journey, Red Path and Elio
SIMON PARSONS is taken by a thought provoking and intelligent play performed with great sensitivity