Art for trying times: Titian’s The Death of Actaeon and the capriciousness of fate
Disasters are inevitable. They should not make us give up on life, rather we should celebrate the preciousness of that life all the more.
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Art for trying times: reading Richard Ford on a world undone by calamity
Books are both solace and provocation during a pandemic. This novel set during Hurricane Sandy is a poignant, often hilarious, reckoning with catastrophe and mortality.
Art for trying times: how a philosopher found solace playing Red Dead Redemption 2
Playing Red Dead Redemption 2 during a pandemic is a surprisingly moving experience. The game is a haunting meditation on time, death, and the persistence of the past.
Listening to Songs of Leonard Cohen: singing sadness to sadness in these anxious times
It may seem counter-intuitive to turn to Leonard Cohen’s ‘depressing’ songs during times of grief and uncertainty. But he shows there is always a reason to keep on keeping on.
Winter Winds by hippy cowboy Mickey Newbury: the perfect soundtrack to wintry times
With his wonderful voice, fondness for strings and whistling and sad, beautiful stories, this American singer-songwriter lifts the spirits.
‘A doubtful gleam of solace’: reading Tennyson’s In Memoriam AHH in difficult times
Alfred Tennyson’s passionate book-length elegy was once among the most popular poems in English. Today, it shows us how soulful art can stir us to life and stave off banality.
Turning to the Code 46 soundtrack: bearing solitude in a time of sickness
A somewhat obscure 2003 science-fiction film has a luminous soundtrack, which brings surprising solace to a locked down world.
Sense and Sensibility in a time of coronavirus: vicarious escape with Jane Austen
Published anonymously in 1811, the first of Jane Austen’s novels throws light on life under COVID-19. It is the perfect lockdown read.
‘The essential is invisible to the eye’: the wisdom of The Little Prince in lockdown
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic book, first published in 1941, is a story of isolation, and seeing things anew.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the funniest, filthiest comfort TV around
If it’s escapism you’re looking for, watch Schitt’s Creek or The Good Place. But if you want a dirty dive that makes the real world look good by comparison, try It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
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