Recent stories of note:
“Massive Ancient Roman Villa Unearthed in France Opens to the Public”
Francesca Anton, ARTnews
Far away from the Roman Empire’s center in the Italian peninsula, researchers unearthed a massive Roman villa that will open to the public on June 15. Archaeologists believe that that the 43,000-square-foot villa was situated two miles from the settlement of Autessiodurum in present-day Auxerre, France and was likely a wing of a much larger building that served as a settlement for wealthy Romans. True to Roman tastes, it boasts thermal baths and a 4,800-square-foot garden. The discovery is sure to provide insights to the public and archaeologists alike about Roman settlements in Gaul.
“Friends like these: the wartime alliances that could not survive peace”
Omar Bartov, The Times Literary Supplement
In the shadow of Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the corresponding blow to the international order, Omar Bartov discusses two books, Phillips Payson O’Brien’s The Strategists and Tim Bouverie’s Allies at War, both exploring the success of the American and Russian alliance in toppling the Axis powers and its inevitable disintegration. O’Brien argues that a decisive factor in winning was Churchill and Roosevelt’s decision to build up massive air- and sea-fighting capabilities. Meanwhile, Stalin proved more capable than his Axis counterparts at adapting to technological needs and political realities. Bouverie’s analysis delves more into the reluctant alliance with the Soviet Union and the reasons for its demise. Bartov ultimately judges that the authors provide historical insight on the current collapse of geopolitical norms.
“Art and Life in the Criticism of Henry James”
Edward Short, City Journal
The new collection On Writers and Writing: Essays by Henry James, edited by Michael Gorra, reveals the nineteenth-century novelist as an amusingly imperious literary critic. In this collection, we see James blithely eviscerate Thomas Hardy for cumbersome descriptions, recommending word limits as a “temporary straightjacket,” and swipe at William Shakespeare, writing of his characters that “the very violence of the movements involved troubles and distracts our sight.” According to Short, however, the collection reveals a reverent side as well, as when James describes Prospero from The Tempest as “something that was to make our poor world a great flat table for receiving the glitter and clink of outpoured treasure.” Indeed, behind the sharp tongue was James’s deep love of the novel as an art form and its expressive power to transcend “rank civilization.”
