5 OCTOBER 2002, page 41

A Poet Under Strict Controls

P. J. Kavanagh BECOMING GEORGE by Ann Saddlemyer OUP, £25, pp. 808, ISBN 0198112327 T his vast work has the distinction of being both unreadable and unputdownable. It consists......

Conjuring With The Jitters

Miranda France THE BOOK OF ILLUSIONS by Paul Auster Faber, £16.99, pp. 321, ISBN 057121213 A spiring novelists are told to 'show, not tell': well, here's an example of the......

Putting It All In

Sebastian Smee MIDDLESEX by Jeffrey Eugenides Bloomsbuty, £16.99, pp. 529, ISBN 0747560234 N ot for nothing has Jeffrey Eugenides, on the strength of just one novel published......