Author Archives: James J. Conway
Valeska unveiled
A revolutionary production of Wilde’s Salomé staged by Valeska Gert in Berlin 100 years ago today
Valeska unveiled
A revolutionary production of Wilde’s Salomé staged by Valeska Gert in Berlin 100 years ago today
The bitter tears of Empress Elisabeth
Our Lady of Sorrows riding side-saddle through a vale of tears, or a morbid, capricious, drug-addicted, tattooed narcissist? Or both?
The bitter tears of Empress Elisabeth
Our Lady of Sorrows riding side-saddle through a vale of tears, or a morbid, capricious, drug-addicted, tattooed narcissist? Or both?
Secret Satan, 2022
You know what to expect by now, surely? Well, expect even more of it: this is our biggest year-end book selection yet.
The Battle of Vienna
Anita Berber and Sebastian Droste bring their infernal cabaret to a temple of high culture; trouble ensues
The Battle of Vienna
Anita Berber and Sebastian Droste bring their infernal cabaret to a temple of high culture; trouble ensues
The courting of Caresse Crosby
War-shattered nihilist poet Harry Crosby marries Polly Peabody (later Caresse Crosby), inventor of the bra, 100 years ago today.
The courting of Caresse Crosby
War-shattered nihilist poet Harry Crosby marries Polly Peabody (later Caresse Crosby), inventor of the bra, 100 years ago today.
Three Prose Works
A selection of vital and biographically charged pre-World War One fiction from the great Else Lasker-Schüler
Three Prose Works
A selection of vital and biographically charged pre-World War One fiction from the great Else Lasker-Schüler
Rosa Bonheur in 22 images
Born 200 years ago today, Rosa Bonheur would go on to become the most successful woman artist of the 19th century.
Rosa Bonheur in 22 images
Born 200 years ago today, Rosa Bonheur would go on to become the most successful woman artist of the 19th century.
22 books for 2022
We’ve got bad gays, can-can dancers and pataphysicians, we’ve got a Black Pope, an Expressionist Joan of Arc and the Last Emperor of Mexico. Won’t you join us?
22 books for 2022
We’ve got bad gays, can-can dancers and pataphysicians, we’ve got a Black Pope, an Expressionist Joan of Arc and the Last Emperor of Mexico. Won’t you join us?
Merely real
Count Robert de Montesquiou, poet, dandy, aesthete, on the 100th anniversary of his death
Merely real
Count Robert de Montesquiou, poet, dandy, aesthete, on the 100th anniversary of his death
Secret Satan, 2021 part 2
Dreaming rebels, dames and showgirls, emphatic queers and seekers of the Elysian Fields
Secret Satan, 2021 part 2
Dreaming rebels, dames and showgirls, emphatic queers and seekers of the Elysian Fields
Secret Satan, 2021 part 1
From Romanian avant-garde Elvis to all the Swedish anarchist Sufi Post-Impressionsists you can imagine
Secret Satan, 2021 part 1
From Romanian avant-garde Elvis to all the Swedish anarchist Sufi Post-Impressionsists you can imagine
Introducing Papa Hamlet
My latest translation for Rixdorf Editions, in case you’ve been wondering why things have been quiet around here …
Introducing Papa Hamlet
My latest translation for Rixdorf Editions, in case you’ve been wondering why things have been quiet around here …
Summer* reading list
A selection of beach reads – only some of them ironically so!
The bohemian countess and her foster fatherland
Writer Franziska zu Reventlow and a warning about heedless nationalism on the 150th anniversary of her birth
The bohemian countess and her foster fatherland
Writer Franziska zu Reventlow and a warning about heedless nationalism on the 150th anniversary of her birth
21 books for 2021
A selection of works with which to while away your second or third lockdown.
Lights in the darkness
The 1966 short film by Marie Menken, who died 50 years ago today.
Light in the darkness
Dear friends – colour and light from my home to yours. I wish you a peaceful, happy, healthy solstice. Thanks for sticking with the erratic publishing schedule, and here’s to what can only be a better 2021.
Light in the darkness
Dear friends – colour and light from my home to yours. I wish you a peaceful, happy, healthy solstice. Thanks for sticking with the erratic publishing schedule, and here’s to what can only be a better 2021.
Secret Satan, 2020
Books to remember from a year you probably want to forget
Places: Ludwig the Second first and last
The legend begins … and ends. The Bavarian king left questions throughout his life, but particularly at its extremities.
Places: Ludwig the Second first and last
The legend begins … and ends. The Bavarian king left questions throughout his life, but particularly at its extremities.
Amazon in her prime
Spend the night chez Natalie Barney as she celebrates her 50th birthday
Strange Flowers 