15 MAY 2004, page 62

The Man Of Feeling

Sebastian Smee A BIT ON THE SIDE by William Trevor Viking, £16.99, pp. 256, ISBN 0670915076 C an a writer be guilty of an excess of sympathy for his characters? Sympathy, we are......

Gallery

The pictures look at the people Like animals in the zoo, The landscapes growl and thump the bars, The gouache goes twitawhoo. The still-life slides along the wall In search of......

The Cloak-and-dagger Poet

Jonathan Bate THE WORLD OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE by David Riggs Faber, £25, pp. 397, ISBN 0571221599 I t is almost impossible to write a good biography of Shakespeare. His plays......