Heartbreak comes in different sizes, and the departure of an 18-year-old child for a far college has to be treated as a very benign form of the disease. Jonathan Raban benignchildcollege Change image and share on social
I've taught the better class of tourist both to see and not to see; to lift their eyes above and beyond the inessentials, and thrill to our western Nature in her majesty. Jonathan Raban classeyehave Change image and share on social
Lincoln, steeped in the Bible and Shakespeare, set an impossibly high bar for presidential prose. Jonathan Raban barbiblehigh Change image and share on social
Critics? Don't talk to me of critics! You think some jackanapes journalist, his soul eaten away by the maggots of jealousy and failure, has anything worthwhile to say of art? I don't. Jonathan Raban artcriticeat Change image and share on social
By the end of the 1980s, Seattle had taken on the dangerous lustre of a promised city. The rumour had gone out that if you had failed in Detroit you might yet succeed in Seattle - and that if you'd succeeded in Seoul, you could succeed even better in Seattle... Seattle was the coming place. So I joined the line of hopefuls. Jonathan Raban 1980scitycome share on social
No president has come near to rivaling Lincoln as a writer. Jonathan Raban lincolnpresidentrivale Change image and share on social
It's been so long since a talented writer last occupied the White House; no wonder, then, that American writers have been among the most prominent of all the demographic groups claiming a piece of Barack Obama for themselves. Jonathan Raban americanbarackclaim share on social
The only book by a modern president that bears serious comparison with Obama's 'Dreams From My Father' is Jimmy Carter's short campaign autobiography, 'Why Not the Best?,' published in 1975. Jonathan Raban autobiographybearbook Change image and share on social
Over emphatic negatives always suggest that what is being denied may be what is really being asserted. Jonathan Raban assertdenyemphatic Change image and share on social
Seattle is this curious liberal 'island.' Jonathan Raban curiousislandliberal Change image and share on social