Mark Glanville

Latest from Mark Glanville

Meet the Holmes (and Watson) of pre-war East European Jewry

The non-literary Yiddish tales of Spitzkopf and his assistant Fuchs display an appealing sense of Jewish invincibility and as such provide an insight into the minds of the Jews on the eve of their destruction

2 min read

Elementary: Kreppel's original Yiddish tales and the English translation (Photo: Yale University Library)

Haunting music of the exiled composers

3 min read

Sensory vignettes from Walter Benjamin’s Berlin childhood

2 min read

2025 in review: Books

7 min read

The World’s Game review: A guide for the perplexed on countering the false certainties of totalitarianism

Author Frederic Raphael argues that Judaism emerges as the only one of the three major religions to leave ‘middle ground... uncluttered by predetermined dogma’

2 min read

July 31, 2025 09:51

The World’s Game review: A guide for the perplexed on countering the false certainties of totalitarianism

Sons and Daughters by Chaim Grade, review: ‘a lost world comes to life’

A deeply affecting portrait of a pious family’s trials and turmoil in an eastern Europe on the brink of collapse

2 min read

May 9, 2025 12:56

Chaim Grade and the new translation of his novel Sons and Daughters

The beautiful song I’ll sing for my dear Marj on her ascent to heaven

Why I am playing a musical tribute to my late partner during Jewish Book Week

4 min read

February 13, 2025 16:08

The beautiful song I’ll sing for my dear Marj on her ascent to heaven

They Were Good Germans Once review: ‘the trials of the yekke’

This is a welcome memoir on the German Jews who were ashamed of being Jewish

1 min read

November 29, 2024 12:58

They Were Good Germans Once review: ‘the trials of the yekke’

How Jewish music helped me find my voice again

Mark Glanville believed a haemorrhage on his vocal chords had brought his singing career to an end...until he began picking up the liturgical melodies at Westminster Synagogue

3 min read

February 27, 2024 17:50

How Jewish music helped me find my voice again

‘Why still write? What is there better to do?’

Oscar-winner Frederic Raphael is still writing at 92. He tells Mark Glanville how how work has helped him survive tragedies

5 min read

February 23, 2024 18:19

"A cold, clear look at things": acclaimed screenwriter and novelist Frederic Raphael

The Glatstein Chronicles by Jacob Glatstein review: A portrait of a Jewish world in its twilight years

One of the foremost 20th century Yiddish poets, Glatstein emigrated from Lublin to New York in 1914

1 min read

February 1, 2024 16:55

Poet Jacob Glatstein founded the Inzikhist (Introspectivist) literary movement. Photo: Yiddish Book Centre

The Fate of Yaakov Maggid review: Joyous but realistic celebration of a lost Jewish world

First-class translation of Ludovic Bruckstein's Yiddish short story collection proves a timely panacea in these dark times

1 min read

November 23, 2023 13:33

The Fate of Yaakov Maggid review: Joyous but realistic celebration of a lost Jewish world

On Czesław Miłosz - Visions from the Other Europe review: Piercing insights into being an outsider

Timely reflections on the Jewish condition are unsettlingly relevant to our own times

1 min read

November 6, 2023 13:30

On Czesław Miłosz - Visions from the Other Europe review: Piercing insights into being an outsider

Singing songs of defiance in my ancestors' home town

Singer Mark Glanville only realised his poignant link to Kutno in Poland thanks to a chance post on Facebook

5 min read

October 26, 2023 15:05

Singing songs of defiance in my ancestors' home town

Time’s Echo review: The music that helps us reflect the terrible traumas of the past

Jeremy Eichler has written a fascinating examination of the power of music in memorial

2 min read

October 18, 2023 15:49

Russian composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975) in the audience at the Royal Albert Hall, London. (Photo by Erich Auerbach/Getty Images)

Osip Mandelstam: A Biography review - The poet who dared to criticise Stalin

Sympathetic grasp of artistic genius behind some of the greatest poetry of the 20th century

2 min read

August 17, 2023 15:41

Osip Mandelstam: A Biography review - The poet who dared to criticise Stalin

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Mark Glanville

Latest from Mark Glanville

Meet the Holmes (and Watson) of pre-war East European Jewry

Haunting music of the exiled composers

Sensory vignettes from Walter Benjamin’s Berlin childhood

2025 in review: Books

More from Mark Glanville

The World’s Game review: A guide for the perplexed on countering the false certainties of totalitarianism

Sons and Daughters by Chaim Grade, review: ‘a lost world comes to life’

The beautiful song I’ll sing for my dear Marj on her ascent to heaven

They Were Good Germans Once review: ‘the trials of the yekke’

How Jewish music helped me find my voice again

‘Why still write? What is there better to do?’

The Glatstein Chronicles by Jacob Glatstein review: A portrait of a Jewish world in its twilight years

The Fate of Yaakov Maggid review: Joyous but realistic celebration of a lost Jewish world

On Czesław Miłosz - Visions from the Other Europe review: Piercing insights into being an outsider

Singing songs of defiance in my ancestors' home town

Time’s Echo review: The music that helps us reflect the terrible traumas of the past

Osip Mandelstam: A Biography review - The poet who dared to criticise Stalin