Culture

A jarring Mann: ‘Fatherland’ (2026) in review

Fatherland, which recounts celebrated Modernist author Thomas Mann’s return to a Germany in wreck and rubble, deals with great personal malaise against a backdrop of great political unease.

Why does everyone like East of Eden so much?

A beautiful book, written in a determinedly readable style, is bound to become popular, not to mention the endless power of nostalgia.

The return of the surreal 

Mythical, dreamlike, phantasmagorical, and absurd: Surrealism, which took the art world by storm in...

Must theatre be so dire? Thoughts on the “unworthy scaffold”

If 'art est celare artem' (true art is to conceal art), then theatre is pretty poor art. You ain't fooling me into thinking that's a storm.

Behind "Blue Stockings"

Director Madeleine Perham explains the relevance of 'Blue Stockings' to modern life in Oxford

Live Review: Wolf Alice – O2 Academy

A short gig with little variety, but there's still time for the new band to develop their onstage style

Loading the Canon: John Lennon

Cherwell's weekly call for new additions to the literary establishment highlights Lennon's short stories and poems

Review: Last Enchantments

Hugh McHale-Maughan discovers the modern Brideshead

Interview: Vladimir Sharov

Miriam Gordis talks to Vladimir Sharov, the man who captured the zeitgeist of a falling regime

Review: Bad Neighbours

Seth Rogan's latest attempt at comedy is caught between being unfunny and unwatchable

Preview: She Stoops To Conquer

Naomi Polonsky looks forward to this traditional garden show

Preview: Timon of Athens

Nadia Bovy looks ahead to this immersive production at Magdalen

Review: Collaborators

Fergus Morgan is impressed by this production about the politics of terror

Review: Frank

Michael Fassbender's masterful performance ultimately saves this self-indulgent and incoherent movie

The Magnificence of Miyazaki

Ollie Johnson praises the genius of the master of Japanese animation

Top 3… Theories of the Soul

Luke Barratt outlines three intriguing historical perspectives

Milestones: Deals with the Devil

Luke Barratt explores the cultural motif of selling one's soul - don't try this at home!

Identity: A question of mind, body or soul?

Emma Simpson considers what our obsession with the physical has to do with our inner lives

Preview: Surprise

Naomi Polonsky is completely absorbed by this new piece of writing

Review: Matisse the Cut-Outs

Enyuan Khong takes a tour of the Tate Modern’s new exhibition of the modernist master’s cut-outs

Beauty is truth, truth beauty

Luke Barratt considers the overwhelmingly visual nature of our cultural consumption

Top 3… Visuals

Emma Simpson examines three unusual visual perspectives

Milestones: Bill Viola

Naomi Polonsky considers the influence of visual artist Bill Viola

Where are they now: The Cheeky Girls

They’re the 00s favourite Romanian red-heads that left Louis Walsh speechless.

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