Eurofile

A look ahead to what will be a big – possibly the biggest yet – year for books from and around the continent When you think about European literature a couple of things might come to mind. Sprawling Russian epics the size of house bricks, maybe, whose list of aristocratic characters alone could fill a […]

The unfailing brilliance of some of Europe’s greatest ever exports: cinematic villains, and villainesses Jeremy Irons in Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995) – Credit: Cover Images I blame Alan Rickman. The late British actor practically trademarked the sneering villain role back in the 1980s, first as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, then as the […]

Bernard Sumner recounts his cultural European journey, from the early days of Joy Division to New Order's latest album

In the mid-nineties I was living in Penge, south London, and I was on the dole. A pretty harsh double whammy in anyone’s book. I’d spend my days laying on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, finding my swooning self-pity resonating at regular intervals with a particular sound that drifted in from outside; a mournful, […]