18 JUNE 1977, page 21

Kiss Of Death

John Wells The Origin of German Tragic Drama Walter Benjamin trans John Osborne (New Left Books U.25) Walter Benjamin's Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels is not the sort of......

Un-novelistic

Peter Ackroyd in a Dark Wood Marina Warner (Weidenfeld and Nicolsoli £4.50) First novels generally wobble with a mild but uncontrollable excitement: can I get everything in? I......

Old Innocence

Benny Green Three Men In a Boat; Diary of a Pilgrimage; Three Men on the Bummel Jerome K. Jerome (Spring Books £2.50) Even the most ethereal masterpiece requires for its genesis......