27 JULY 1991, page 32

A Hothouse Atmosphere

D.J. Taylor THE EARLY FIRBANK by Steven Moore Quartet, (15.95, pp. 240 T h e Early Firbank is an expanded ver- sion of Ronald Firbank: Complete Short Sto- ries — a misleading......

The Ice-maiden Cometh

Mark Illis VARYING DEGREES OF HOPELESSNESS by Lucy Ellmann Hamish Hamilton, £13.99, pp. 181 omeone should produce a thesis on the virgin in the literature of the past few......