The new 'Library of Birmingham'

In Birmingham at the weekend for the Birmingham half marathon, I finally got around to making a trip I had been planning for a while: a visit to the new 'Library of Birmingham' in Centenary Square (Europe's largest public library). Opened in September, it is an incredible building -- and brilliantly incorporates the demands of modern living (cafes, internet access, public spaces for discussion) with a wonderful selection of open-access literature.

Even more excitingly, it houses in its entirety the original Shakespeare Memorial Room from the Victorian Birmingham library; this was reconstructed in full and now sits atop the new library (in the golden ring on the picture below), on the 9th floor. It is well worth the climb to the top, and reminds us that Shakespeare (so often associated with London these days) was a Midlander after all...

The library inside is phenomenal, and not unlike the interior design of the Selfridges department store in Birmingham; but somehow the space suits the worship of books as much as Selfridges does the worship of shopping... My favourite aspect of the design is the way that the beautiful first editions owned by the library, as well as rarer collections, are integrated into the library walls -- so that although they are on display, they are cleverly protected by the use of (near-invisible) glass partitions. (Something similar has been done in the British Library in London). This manages to give pleasure to bibliophiles while ensuring that the very modern space nods to its literary heritage.

The library also houses regular exhibitions, and stages events for children; and while I was there (on a Sunday afternoon) it had free film screenings. The building of the library was controversial, not least for the sums of money spent on it -- there were debates about the usefulness of the building to the whole community -- and the design is an acquired taste. But (and I can say this as a Midlander) Birmingham has never been a beautiful city, so why not build something new and remarkable? I have included a couple of pictures below so that you can judge for yourself...

'What Richard Did' and 'The Great Gatsby'

At the moment I'm preparing a talk on 'Fitzgerald Beyond Gatsby' to give to the Woodstock Literature Society in a couple of weeks' time (to be followed by an adapted version of the talk at OUDCE's Open Day). In thinking about the talk I came across Sarah Churchwell's wonderful 'biography' of The Great Gatsby, Careless People, which considers the scandal and real-life stories of Scott and Zelda and their whirl of friends in the giddy '20s.

Churchwell discusses in her book how Gatsby is both completely of its moment and entirely relevant to our times, and this is what was playing in my mind when last night I watched the superlative 2013 Irish film What Richard Did, about the privileged 'D4' set living in the south side of Dublin. And in both The Great Gatsby and What Richard Did we are shown, in strikingly similar ways, how money and influence can buy silence -- even when the worst happens. Both also put me in mind of Donna Tartt's wonderful novel The Secret History (1992); in all three stories the power that tantalises is also the thing that we come most to fear...

'Scandi-hot Crime Literature'

At Kellogg College last Friday, we held a rather unusual event for Oxford: an afternoon devoted to the phenomenon of Scandinavian crime literature. The Danish crime novelist Susanne Staun, wife of a visiting professor at the College, tried to unravel for us the reasons why Scandinavian crime stories (and drama) had become so popular -- both in the UK and beyond. Was it really just about the jumpers? Also talking was Heather O'Donoghue, Reader in Norse and a 'Dagger' crime fiction judge; she talked about the appeal of Stieg Larsson, how many crime novels you have to read a year to be a judge (answer: very many), and the successful formulas that lie behind successful novels. Much of the discussion focused on the presentation of women in these stories. Were they 'new' versions of women for a modern age, or were they women re-cast to resemble men? Were such women -- flawed, successful, sometimes dangerous -- appealing to female and male readers alike? Not many conclusions were drawn, but the debate was certainly enjoyable -- and heated! Look out for Susanne Staun in the next few years: she is massively successful at home (her work straddles the 'crime fiction' and 'literary fiction' divide), and is about to be launched upon the UK market. Interestingly, the Danish for 'blog' seems to be 'Blob', according to Susanne's website...

Two sides of Spanish culture: Almodovar and Picasso...

I went to the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House on Monday to see the 'Becoming Picasso' exhibition, which centred on the significant year of 1901 -- during which Picasso became an established painter (or, as the gallery puts it, Picasso's 'remarkable breakthrough year as an artist'). There was some amazing work on display, including his beautiful 'Child with a Dove' painting (see below), which is one of my favourites. At the other end of the spectrum, last Friday I went to see Pedro Almodovar's latest, 'I'm So Excited', which I thought was really terrible! I loved many of his other films - All About My Mother, Volver, Bad Education, etc. -- but this was so lacking in subtlety (and feeling) that I found it really disappointing. 'Proper' critics weren't as scathing but still had issues with it: see what Peter Bradshaw thought in The Guardian...