Roger Vernon Scruton (born 27 February 1944) is an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
conservative philosopher, writer, activist and composer. He is currently a scholar at the
American Enterprise InstituteThe American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
.
Biography
Scruton was educated at
Royal Grammar School, High WycombeSee Royal Grammar School for the other schools with the name RGS.The Royal Grammar School High Wycombe is a selective grammar school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. As a state school it does not charge fees for students to attend, but they must pass an entrance exam...
(1954-1961) and
Jesus College, CambridgeJesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
(1962-1969). He received a
Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
in Moral Sciences (the Cambridge name for
philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
) in 1965, a
Master of ArtsA Master of Arts is a postgraduate academic master degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in English, Fine Arts, History, Nursing, Humanities, Geography, Philosophy, Social Sciences or Theology and can be either fully-taught, research-based, or a...
in 1967, and a
Doctor of PhilosophyPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
in 1972 with a thesis on aesthetics. He was
called to the BarThe Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions. Common law jurisdictions were all at one time part of the British Empire. Being called to the Bar has its origin in the royal summons that was issued to one seen fit to serve in the royal court at the monarch's pleasure...
in 1978.
From 1969 to 1971 he was Research Fellow at
Peterhouse, CambridgePeterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
. From 1971 to 1992 he was Lecturer, and, subsequently, Reader and Professor of Aesthetics at
Birkbeck CollegeBirkbeck, University of London, sometimes referred to by its former name Birkbeck College or by the abbreviation BBK, is a constituent college of the University of London. At the undergraduate level, it aims at working people who want to study for degrees in the evenings...
, London. From 1992 to 1995 he was Professor of Philosophy and University Professor at
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839...
.
From 1982 to 2001 he was founding editor of
The Salisbury ReviewThe Salisbury Review is a British conservative magazine, published quarterly and founded in 1982. Roger Scruton was its chief editor for eighteen years and published it through his Claridge Press. It was named after Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, the British Prime Minister at the...
and also founded the Claridge Press which in early 2004 he sold to
Continuum International Publishing GroupThe Continuum International Publishing Group is a publisher of books, with its editorial offices in London and New York City.The current company was created in 1999 with the merger of the Cassell academic and religious lists, Athlone Press and The Continuum Publishing Company in New York...
. He remains on
The Salisbury Review's editorial board, as well as those of the
British Journal of Aesthetics and openDemocracy.net. He has written an article on the slow food movement for the online publication
Chinadialogue.net.
In the early 1990s he moved from the city to the countryside and discovered a passion for
fox huntingFox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in the United...
with hounds, which in the UK is now a criminal practice (
Hunting Act 2004The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The effect of the Act is to outlaw hunting with dogs in England and Wales from 18 February 2005...
). When in England, he lives with his family on his farm in
BrinkworthBrinkworth could be*Brinkworth, South Australia*Brinkworth, Wiltshire, UK...
,
WiltshireWiltshire is a ceremonial county in the south west of England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers 3,485 km²...
.
Contributions to philosophy and the arts
His first publication -
Art and Imagination - was an exploration of
aestheticsAesthetics is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
. Since then, he has written on almost every topic in philosophy, generally in an accessible prose. In his early book
Thinkers of the New Left he expresses doubts about the philosophical value of thinkers such as
Michel FoucaultMichel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, sociologist and historian. He held a chair at the Collège de France with the title "History of Systems of Thought," and also taught at the University of California, Berkeley.Foucault is best known for his critical studies of...
and
Louis AlthusserLouis Pierre Althusser was a Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
, and the
Frankfurt SchoolThe Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist sociology and philosophy in the tradition of critical theory, which was associated with the early Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...
.
Scruton holds the philosopher
Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg...
in particularly high regard. Some object that, while his
The Meaning of Conservatism criticises Kantian ethics as too individualistic, his later
Animal Rights and Wrongs relies on Kantian ethics. In the former, however, Scruton does not offer a refutation of Kant's moral scheme, merely a criticism.
Scruton has written two books about modern philosophy. The first,
A Short History Of Modern Philosophy starts with Descartes and ends with
Ludwig WittgensteinLudwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language....
and the
logical positivistLogical positivism is a school of philosophy that combines empiricism, the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge of the world, with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions in epistemology.[See, e.g., : ...]
school. His subsequent
Modern Philosophy is a more detailed, more readable, topic-based and up-to-date survey of the same material.
In addition to his theoretical work, Scruton has published novels and short stories, and has written two operas, for which he provided both the libretto and music. His first opera,
The Minister, was performed in Quenington in 1994 and in Oxford in 1998. His second opera,
Violet, based on the life of the harpsichordist
Violet Gordon-WoodhouseViolet Gordon-Woodhouse was an acclaimed British harpsichordist and clavichordist, highly influential in bringing both instruments back into fashion.-Family:...
, was
performed twice in London in 2005. Since 2001, Scruton has also written
wineWine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes...
columns for the
New StatesmanThe New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, and made contributions to
The World of Fine WineThe World of Fine Wine, abbreviated WFW, is a British quarterly publication for wine enthusiasts and collectors. Published by Quarto Magazines Ltd, the first issue was released in June 2004...
and the 2007 publication
Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine with his essay "The Philosophy of Wine".
Contributions to politics and culture
Scruton holds
BurkeanEdmund Burke PC was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who, after relocating to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a member of the Whig party. He is mainly remembered for his opposition to the French Revolution...
political views, which he expounds in the
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
quarterly
Salisbury ReviewThe Salisbury Review is a British conservative magazine, published quarterly and founded in 1982. Roger Scruton was its chief editor for eighteen years and published it through his Claridge Press. It was named after Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, the British Prime Minister at the...
and elsewhere.
The Meaning of Conservatism was a response to the growth of
liberalismLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
in the
Conservative PartyThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
. It seeks to shift the emphasis of the
rightRights are entitlements or permissions, usually of a legal or moral nature. Rights are of vital importance in the fields of law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology.-Theoretical distinctions:...
away from
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
towards moral issues such as
sex educationSex education is a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, contraception, and other aspects of human sexual behavior...
and
censorshipCensorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor.-Rationale:...
laws. His memoirs,
Gentle Regrets, have a warmer tone than
The Meaning of Conservatism in which he said that conservatives were/should be implacably opposed to equality of opportunity, and should support rank and privilege. Although his children's mass-produced, plastic toys "tempt him to become a socialist", he argues that the transference in socialism and state planned economies of local knowledge and tradition into the hands of bureaucrats, "government from elsewhere" fosters incompetence, ignorance and corruption and, therefore, bad policy. His alternative is to defend "autonomous institution" (organisations outside of state/government control), citing the legal and medical professions, the City, army, church, Monarchy and business enterprise generally as examples.
Though regarded as a
traditionalistTraditionalist conservatism, also known as "traditional conservatism," "traditionalism," and Burkean conservatism is a political philosophy which emphasizes the need for the principles of natural law and transcendent moral order, tradition and custom, hierarchy and "Gemeinschaft" , and localism and...
, in
England: An Elegy he says he is a
bohemianBohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits, with few permanent ties...
, and interested in French and German high culture. He says the purpose of the book is 'to praise the dead and cheer the survivors'. Like the journalist
Peter HitchensPeter Jonathan Hitchens is a British columnist and author, noted for his traditionalist conservative stance. The author of four books, including The Abolition of Britain and more recently The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way, Hitchens currently writes for Britain's Mail on Sunday...
, he is bemused by his own generation, who "mock the traditions and institutions that might have been theirs".
He calls the
National TrustThe National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
, a seemingly conservative organisation, "an exercise in
taxidermyTaxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all species of animals including mammals, birds, nematodes, reptiles and amphibians...
" and predicts that it will be captured by left-wing bureaucrats in due course. The only way to defend traditional houses, he argues, is as part of a living community. In 2005 he called on people living in the countryside to club together and buy land up in order to save it from the "balkanising plans of
John PrescottJohn Leslie Prescott is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Hull East since 1970; from 1997 to 2007, he was the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, also serving as First Secretary of State from 2001...
and the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
". In March 2009, at the
Royal Geographical SocietyThe Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical sciences, under the patronage of King William IV...
, seconding the historian
David StarkeyDavid Robert Starkey, CBE, FSA is an English historian, a television and radio presenter, and a specialist in the Tudor period.- Early years :...
, he proposed the motion: "Britain has become indifferent to beauty" by holding an image of
BotticelliAlessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli or Il Botticello was an Italian painter of the Florentine school during the Early Renaissance...
's
The Birth of VenusThe Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a full grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore...
next to an image of the British supermodel
Kate MossKatherine "Kate" Ann Moss is an English model. She has appeared on over 300 magazine covers. She is known for her waifish figure, uncommonly short height for a fashion model, and appearances in many advertising campaigns. She is also notorious for her high-profile relationships and party lifestyle...
, to demonstrate how British perceptions of beauty had declined to the "level of our crudest appetites and our basest needs".
Activism
From 1979, Scruton was an active supporter of
dissidentA dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
s in
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
when the country was under the rule of the
Communist PartyThe Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....
. Inspired by
Kathy WilkesKathleen Vaughan Wilkes was a philosopher and academic who played an important part in rebuilding the education systems of former Communist countries after 1990. She established her reputation as an academic with her contributions to the Philosophy of Mind in two major works and many articles in...
, whom he eulogised in
England: An Elegy, he participated in the "underground university" (an informal educational organisation set up by the dissidents) with discussions about philosophy. In 1980 in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
, he co-founded the Jan Hus Educational Foundation, which continues to work in the
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
and
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
, and served as trustee. Since 1990 he has been a board member of the Civic Institute in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
. For his services to the Czech people, he received the 1st June Prize of the City of Plzeň in 1996 and the Medal for Merit, First Class of the Czech Republic in 2000.
Scruton was also co-founder and trustee of the Jagiellonian Trust, working in Poland and Hungary from 1982 until the return of democracy in 1989, and founder and trustee of the Anglo-Lebanese Cultural Association, working for reconciliation between the Lebanese sects from 1987 until it was disbanded in 1995, after the occupation of Lebanon by Syria in alliance with Hezbollah.
In December 2008 Scruton signed his name to a full-page ad that ran in
The New York Times as "No Mob Veto" that declared the group's differing views on California's
Proposition 8Proposition 8 was a California ballot proposition passed in the November 2008, general election. The measure added a new section to Article I of the California Constitution...
, but was united in its opposition to "violence and intimidation being directed against the
LDSA Latter Day Saint is an adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement, a group of denominations tracing their heritage to the teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr. and the Church of Christ he organized in 1830...
or the 'Mormon' church, and other religious organizations - and even against individual believers - simply because they supported Proposition 8", and announcing their commitment to "exposing and publicly shaming anyone who resorts to the rhetoric of anti-religious bigotry - against any faith, on any side of any cause, for any reason."
Animal rights issues
Scruton is known for his strong opposition to the ban on
fox huntingFox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in the United...
. In his book
Animal Rights and Wrongs, he argued that hunting and meat-eating were not immoral, but he opposed
factory farmingFactory farming is the practice of raising farm animals in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a factory — a practice typical in industrial farming by agribusinesses....
. He also believes that it is, at present, wrong for a British person to eat
codCod is the common name for the genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
,
haddockThe haddock or offshore hake is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish, widely fished commercially....
,
skateSkates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. There are more than 200 described species in 27 genera.-Description and habitat:...
or
turbotTurbot are flatfish native to marine or brackish waters of the North Atlantic, Black Sea, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.-Origin:...
, as
factory fishingLongline fishing is a commercial fishing technique. It uses a long line, called the main line, with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called "snoods". A snood is a short length of line which is attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other...
is threatening the continued existence of these species and damaging the oceans themselves.
Public debates
Scruton debated with
Richard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL is a British ethologist, zoologist, Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biologist and theorist and a popular science author....
,
Christopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an English-American author, journalist, and literary critic. He has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets...
, and
A. C. GraylingAnthony Clifford Grayling, FRSA, FRSL is a British philosopher and author. He is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London and a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford...
in London in March 2007 on the topic "Are We Better Off Without Religion?" Scruton argues that religion is both helpful and necessary, although he admits that it is very difficult to prove the truth of religious statements. Scruton also debated Irish Marxist theorist
Sean MatgamnaSean Matgamna, also known as John O'Mahony is a Trotskyist theorist and activist.- Early political experience :...
in 1991 on the question "has socialism a future?"
Japan Tobacco International affair
Scruton has been involved in various business ventures, most notably Horsell's Farm Enterprises, a consulting firm advising clients on
public relationsPublic relations is the practice of managing the communication between an organization and its publics. Public relations gains an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment...
, which he co-founded in 1999. This firm has been the source of some controversy, since among its clients is one of the world's largest tobacco companies, for which a quarterly briefing paper, The Risk of Freedom Briefing, has been prepared and circulated to press and politicians since 2000.
In early 2002,
The GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
disclosed a leaked confidential e-mail in which he asked
Japan Tobacco International, JT for short, is a cigarette manufacturing company. It is part of the Nikkei 225 index. It is the only Japaneese and one of the 59 global brands to be in the VB.com Internet Hall of Fame owning a two letter domain name. In 2009 the company is listed at number 312 on the Fortune 500 list. It has...
for an increase of £1,000 over his existing fee of £4,500 per month and discussed his aim of getting opinion pieces published "in one or other of
The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an English-language international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, in New York City, with Asian and European editions. As of 2007, it has a worldwide daily circulation of more than 2 million, with approximately 931,000...
,
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
,
The TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier...
,
The SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly Britishmagazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by the Barclay brothers, who also own The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
,
The Financial Times,
The EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in an office in the City of Westminster, London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. While The Economist calls itself a...
,
The IndependentThe Independent is a British newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National...
or the
New StatesmanThe New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
" on "major topics of current concern" to the tobacco industry. As a result of the disclosure,
The Financial Times dropped his weekly column, "This Land". Scruton argues that his relationship with JTI was never concealed, and the new proposal was never acted upon, but his critics respond that his previous articles failed to mention any links to the tobacco industry.
Publications
Philosophy and the arts
- Art And Imagination (1974)
- The Aesthetics Of Architecture (1979)
- A Short History of Modern Philosophy (1982)
- The Aesthetic Understanding (1983)
- Kant (1983)
- Sexual Desire: A Moral Philosophy of the Erotic (1986)
- Spinoza (1987)
- The Philosopher On Dover Beach and Other Essays (1990)
- Modern Philosophy (1994)
- The Classical Vernacular: architectural principles in an age of nihilism (1995)
- Animal Rights and Wrongs (1996)
- An Intelligent Person's Guide To Philosophy (1996) Republished in 2005 as Philosophy: Principles and Problems
- The Aesthetics Of Music (1997)
- Spinoza (1998)
- Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (2004)
- Beauty (2009)
Politics and culture
- The Meaning Of Conservatism (1980)
- The Politics Of Culture and Other Essays (1981)
- A Dictionary Of Political Thought (1982) * NEW EDITION - 2007 *
- Untimely Tracts (1985)
- Thinkers Of The New Left (1986)
- A Land Held Hostage: Lebanon and the West (1987)
- Conservative Texts (1992)
- An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture (1998)
- The West and the Rest: Globalisation and the terrorist threat (2002)
- The Need for Nations (2004)
- Animal Rights and Wrongs (2006)
- Arguments For Conservatism (2006)
- Immigration, Multiculturalism and the Need to Defend the Nation State - Online version (2006)
- Culture Counts: Faith and Feeling in a World Besieged (2007)
Autobiographical
- On Hunting (1998)
- England: An Elegy (2001)
- News From Somewhere: On Settling (2004)
- Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life (2005)
Fiction
- Fortnight's Anger: a novel (1981)
- Francesca: a novel (1991)
- A Dove Descending and Other Stories (1991)
- Xanthippic Dialogues (1993)
- Perictione in Colophon (2000)
Opera
- The Minister (1994)
- Violet (2005)
External links