J. G. Farrell: Troubles
The latest addition to my website is J. G. Farrell's Troubles. This novel, which won the Lost Man Booker Prize more than thirty years after the author's death, is the…
The latest addition to my website is J. G. Farrell's Troubles. This novel, which won the Lost Man Booker Prize more than thirty years after the author's death, is the…
I have now read at least one book by all twenty of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists so I feel I should now make a few comments. A couple of…
Last week saw the issue of the very wonderful Review of Contemporary Fiction's The Future of British Fiction, edited by Jennifer Hodgson and Patricia Waugh. It is dated Fall 2012…
A recent study has concluded that US writers are more emotional than British ones, at least since around 1960 (they were about the same before). This is not a major…
Back in January, I commented on the forthcoming Granta list of the best 20 young novelists and, in particular, Philip Hensher's comments thereon. Hensher had made his own suggestions as…
Philip Hensher writes in the Independent of Granta's list of best young novelists . I was aware of this forthcoming list - Granta had already flagged it - but this…
I have just added a list of novels featuring Englishness to my site. I have been considering this for a long time but have hesitated for a number of reasons.…
The English have something of a reputation for being eccentric. Dame Edith Sitwell famously wrote a book on the topic and there seems to be a more modern one as…
I have yet to read John Lanchester's Capital or, indeed, any of his other books, but will probably do so in the next few weeks. However, I was intrigued by…