I am so glad I discovered Saramago. This novel, his last, is remarkable. It's a Candide-like satire, as flippant and profound as anything by Voltaire,...moreI am so glad I discovered Saramago. This novel, his last, is remarkable. It's a Candide-like satire, as flippant and profound as anything by Voltaire, that follows the wanderings of Cain after he was cursed by God for murdering his brother Abel. Saramago propels Cain through many of the key incidents of the Old Testament. It's an angry, political and deeply philosophical novel in many ways; and yet none of the driving intellectual energy behind its creation interferes with the simple but ingenious emotional delights of the story. Cain is a very sympathetic character. His adventures are in turns bitter, erotic, illuminating, melancholy and triumphant. The ending is surprising and astounding.(less)
I love Saramago. I now regard him to be as good as (or perhaps even better than) Marquez. This is a superb novel based on the true story of an elephan...moreI love Saramago. I now regard him to be as good as (or perhaps even better than) Marquez. This is a superb novel based on the true story of an elephant that walked from Lisbon to Vienna in 1551. The writing flows with grace, elegance and irresistible momentum. It was very refreshing for me to read a novel almost entirely devoid of evil incidents. None of the main players, including the Archduke of Austria, are malign and the elephant himself is a magnificent character. Wise, witty and charming.(less)
One of the best novelists I have discovered in recent years is Ismail Kadare. I find his work extraordinary. Kafkaesque, Voltairean, wonderful, distur...moreOne of the best novelists I have discovered in recent years is Ismail Kadare. I find his work extraordinary. Kafkaesque, Voltairean, wonderful, disturbing, bizarre and just incredibly well-written. This book contains a long novella, a shorter novella and a short story. All three pieces are absolutely amazing. I was especially impressed with the middle piece, 'The Blinding Order', which is certainly one of the best novellas I have ever read. It's harrowing and awful but also sublime and revelatory. Kadare is a genius.(less)
The first Akutagawa story I ever read was ‘Sennin’, the first story in the Borges edited anthology *The Book of Fantasy*, and I was impressed with its...moreThe first Akutagawa story I ever read was ‘Sennin’, the first story in the Borges edited anthology *The Book of Fantasy*, and I was impressed with its quirky and ironic flavour. I resolved to seek out more Akutagawa, so I was delighted when I chanced on this Penguin Classics volume containing eighteen of his tales.
It’s a retrospective of his entire life’s work (he died when he was only thirty five) and divided into four sections.
The first section is devoted to his early stories. ‘Rashomon’ is the most famous because of the Kurosawa film, but in fact that film is a confabulation of two Akutagawa stories, not only ‘Rashomon’ but also ‘In a Bamboo Grove’. Picturesque and brutal, they contrast with the trio of delightful fantasies that follow, namely, ‘The Nose’, ‘Dragon: the Old Potter’s Tale’ and ‘The Spinder’s Thread’. Ultimately these are the three stories I am most likely to re-read, for their charm, although I appreciate they aren’t as powerful or significant as the monumental ‘Hell Screen’, which closes this section. ‘Hell Screen’ is a dark and fiery classic, a disturbing horror story with a particular Japanese slant that is non-supernatural and supernatural at the same time.
The second section features three historical stories, ‘Dr Ogata Ryosai: Memorandum’, ‘O-Gin’ and ‘Loyalty’, all of which are worth reading but don’t really show Akutagawa at his very best.
The third section, however, contains three absolute gems of tragicomedy, the brilliantly odd ‘The Story of a Head that Fell Off’, the offbeat romance ‘Green Onions’ and the superb absurdist comedy ‘Horse Legs’, which is possibly my favourite story in the entire collection, a lighter-hearted version of Kafka with a relentless logic of its own.
The fourth section reveals Akutagawa in an entirely different light, as a tormented personality and depressive paranoid personality, struggling to keep a grip on his sanity. These stories are bleak and harrowing and difficult to read. ‘Daidoji Shinsuke: The Early Years’, ‘The Writer’s Craft’, ‘The Baby’s Sicvkness’, ‘Death Register’, ‘The Life of a Stupid Man’ and ‘Spinning Gears’ chronicle a tormented psychology and a life in despair. The last story reads almost like a profoundly literary suicide note, and in fact Akutagawa did take his own life before it was published.
Nine of the stories in this volume are published in English for the first time here; and the book contains a perceptive and lengthy introduction by Haruki Murakami together with a chronology and extensive notes. It is an essential volume for anyone who loves the literature of the past 100 years. (less)
Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favourite American writers. After a long hiatus I rediscovered his work last year and have read five of his books since the...moreKurt Vonnegut is one of my favourite American writers. After a long hiatus I rediscovered his work last year and have read five of his books since then. *While Mortals Sleep* is an excellent collection of stories that remained unpublished during his lifetime. Most of them date from the early years of his career. I was impressed with the title story, 'The Humbugs', 'With His Hand on the Throttle' and 'The Epizootic'; but my two favourites in this collection were 'Bomar' and 'Jenny'. The entire book, however, was definitely worth reading.(less)
I have been familiar with the name Alan Garner for years but never got round to actually reading him until a couple of weeks ago. I picked this book o...moreI have been familiar with the name Alan Garner for years but never got round to actually reading him until a couple of weeks ago. I picked this book off the shelves at my local library and I'm very glad I did. It's an excellent piece of work. The writing is superb: uncluttered but magical, and the characters come alive on the page almost instantly. Somehow Garner has tuned in to some 'universal consciousness'. The incidents he decsribes seem common to all of us but also unique to the particular characters.
I felt an acute mixture of nostalgia, sadness and glee as I read these four linked novellas. The only book I have read in recent years that has given me a similar feeling in this particular mode was A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr. I fully intend to seek out more books by Garner in the coming months...(less)
A total masterpiece. One of the best novels I have read for ages. I am so glad I have discovered Kadare at last! I had one of his novels on my shelves...moreA total masterpiece. One of the best novels I have read for ages. I am so glad I have discovered Kadare at last! I had one of his novels on my shelves a few years ago (*Chronicle of Stone*) but never got round to reading it; and I ended up giving it away when I moved house. Recently, however, there was a booksale in my local library and I pic ked up two Kadare books very cheaply (this one and *Agamemnon's Daughter*)... What a revelation! *The File on H* is funny, ironic, Kafkaesque, absurdist, erotic, and just extremely well written. A delight and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves literature!(less)
The history of Cuba retold as a series of vignettes. I used to love Cabrera Infante when I was younger and I regard his *Infante's Inferno* as one of...moreThe history of Cuba retold as a series of vignettes. I used to love Cabrera Infante when I was younger and I regard his *Infante's Inferno* as one of the funniest, boldest, brashest, cleverest and most febrile novels I have ever read. So I'm a huge Infante fan. I wasn't quite so taken with this book, however, partly because of the lack of humour and wordplay (two things that Infante excels at) and partly because of the sheer gloominess of the unfolding history of Cuba, the violence and endless tragedy; and yes there is courage and strong human spirit here too, but all the same the final picture was rather a dark one.
Nonetheless I am glad I read it; and it was very nice to renew my acquaintance with Infante again after so many years... (less)
I have heard all sorts of disparaging remarks made about Brecht and how he used collaborators but never credited them, how he claimed to have written...moreI have heard all sorts of disparaging remarks made about Brecht and how he used collaborators but never credited them, how he claimed to have written work that wasn't his, etc... I don't know how true these claims are but I've always enjoyed the work that comes labelled under his name. The Threepenny Opera is one of my favourite ever theatrical experiences.
The Good Woman of Szechwan is an intriguing piece. The theme is the following question: is it possible to survive and flourish in this world if you are essentially a good person? The answer seems to be: only with extreme difficulty, or by employing a clever ruse...
Having read this play I now want the opportunity to see it acted.(less)
I love Vonnegut. He is in fact one of my favourite American writers. I have decided to read everything he has ever written (if I can get hold of it)....moreI love Vonnegut. He is in fact one of my favourite American writers. I have decided to read everything he has ever written (if I can get hold of it). I am therefore glad that I read this book, but it did strike me as a little thin. A meandering wander through some moral themes about modern life. I agree with nearly everything he says, but the bite was missing. I suppose it doesn't matter: Vonnegut has earned the right to be considered an "elder statesman".
After finishing this book, I felt regret that Vonnegut never lived to see Obama become President of the USA. I think it might have pleased him...(less)
This is a very good story collection by the great William Tenn; not so good as THE WOODEN STAR, but definitely worth reading. Tenn is a sort of bridge...moreThis is a very good story collection by the great William Tenn; not so good as THE WOODEN STAR, but definitely worth reading. Tenn is a sort of bridge between the Golden Age SF of the 1940s and the more sophisticated and worldly 'New Wave' SF of the 1960s; in fact he is probably the missing link between Ray Bradbury and Brian Aldiss.
The finest story in this collection is 'The Servant Problem', which is quite frankly one of the best SF stories I have ever read by any author. It's a brilliantly funny and ironic meditation on the question of power and control. 'Party of the Two Parts' is also very noteworthy, particularly for its conceit of extraterrestrial pornography and how it would be regarded by homo sapiens. The excellent trope-reversal tale 'The Flat Eyed Monster' is another winner. Even the weaker stories in this book are interesting and original.
Tenn made SF better than it was before him, and there's no higher praise for an SF writer than that...(less)
I love Cocteau's epigrammatic prose style. It's heady and addictive and enthralling. This novel (his first, dating from 1921) is a masterpiece. The ac...moreI love Cocteau's epigrammatic prose style. It's heady and addictive and enthralling. This novel (his first, dating from 1921) is a masterpiece. The actual story is fairly slight, merely an account of a love affair that goes wrong among a couple of denizens (he more sensitive and less pragmatic than she) of a semi-Bohemian corner of Paris in the early years of the 20th Century; but the way the tale is told is truly exquisite. This fine edition includes many of Cocteau's unique drawings. A wonderful novel, tragic but luminous.(less)
2012 was the year I rediscovered the joys of Vonnegut. This collection contains 25 short-stories (two of them are really essays) from the early days o...more2012 was the year I rediscovered the joys of Vonnegut. This collection contains 25 short-stories (two of them are really essays) from the early days of his career, including his very first (and very good) published story ('A Report on the Barnhouse Effect'), written in 1949. Highlights include 'Unready to Wear', 'Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog', 'Deer in the Works', 'All the King's Horses', 'The Euphio Question' and the brilliantly satirical 'Harrison Bergeron', the first Vonnegut story I ever encountered (in some anthology or other many years ago)... The title story is also very good. Vonnegut was a tremendous writer and his short stories are excellent. He reminds me a little of a tougher Ray Bradbury. Highly recommended!(less)
I’m not a big fan of Hemingway. I started off badly with him when I read ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ when I was about 18. I thought it was one of the m...moreI’m not a big fan of Hemingway. I started off badly with him when I read ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ when I was about 18. I thought it was one of the most transparently self-pitying and self-indulgent works of fiction I had ever read (a writer who is dying is full of bitter sorrow at all the stories he will never get to write). However I have read some Hemingway fiction since then that has helped to soften my view of him. *The Old Man and the Sea* is one of these. It’s actually rather good, a 100 page novella that tells the story of an unlucky fisherman and the biggest fish he has ever encountered. It’s a tragedy but not quite. I read somewhere that it’s an extended metaphor and that the fish he catches (a marlin) that is eaten by sharks before he can get it back home represents Hemingway’s own body of work and the critics that keep coming to savage it, but to be honest this interpretation seems a bit fishy... (less)
A collection of 14 stories that were never published in Vonnegut's lifetime and presumably were found among his papers after his death. While not in t...moreA collection of 14 stories that were never published in Vonnegut's lifetime and presumably were found among his papers after his death. While not in the same league as the stories that appeared in *Welcome to the Monkey House*, they are rather good nonetheless, quite Bradbury-esque in fact but less sugary, all of them with some (non maudlin) moral at the end....My favourite is probably 'Hall of Mirrors', a curious crime tale involving a hypnotist, but the Depression-era bildungsroman 'King and Queen of the Universe' is also very good. Oddest story is 'The Petrified Ants', which is an absurdist satire on Stalinism, and features the discovery of prehistoric ants that lived like individualistic capitalists... (less)
I have read more fiction by Moorcock than by any other writer. I have, in fact, almost read everything he has ever published. The ‘Oswald Bastable’ st...moreI have read more fiction by Moorcock than by any other writer. I have, in fact, almost read everything he has ever published. The ‘Oswald Bastable’ stories, however, were a gap in my completist aspirations. I bought this omnibus volume back in 1986 when I was 19 and I only got round to reading it this year. It consists of three novels written over a 10 year...period; these novels feature a soldier who is projected into a sequence of alternate Earths after he stumbles into the underground labyrinth of a peculiar temple high in the Himalayas.
The first volume, *The War Lord of the Air*, is the weakest of the three, in my view, serving mainly to set the tone for the others, a tone that combines the gung-ho gusto of late Victorian adventure stories with a more modern political vision. It’s competent enough ‘visually’, full of airships and other curiously retro ‘future’ marvels (it has been credited with being one of the first ‘steampunk’ novels, long before the word was coined) and consists of a well-managed headlong race through various Moorcockian specialised concerns, dabbling in questions of anarchism, imperialism, justice, freedom, etc. But ultimately it feels a little thin, a little rushed in the composition.
The second volume, *The Land Leviathan*, is better; darker and more troubling and denser both in story and prose. It’s almost a sidewise homage to the Black Panther movement of the 1960s and 1970s, but not quite. Moorcock is always interested in the ramifications of ‘responsibility’ and here the complexities of the consequences of wanting to radically change the world are resolved less neatly than in the first volume. The central section of the novel, the battle between the fleet of the Black Attila and the Austro-Japanese Alliance is extremely well-written, as good as anything Moorcock has ever written, of a comparable standard to the prose of his four ‘Pyat’ novels (his masterpieces, to which this sequence seems almost a pulp trailer).
By the time of the third volume, *The Steel Tsar*, I was growing slightly bored with Oswald Bastable and the mildly lazy contradictions inherent in his character and situation (for instance, he keeps protesting that he’s just a simple soldier with no interest in politics and then a few pages later explains the differences between ‘anarchism’ and ‘scientific socialism’, albeit indirectly, through the mouths of the characters he is observing and reporting on (all three volumes pretend to be manuscripts entrusted to Moorcock or his grandfather)). Yet in some ways this is perhaps the most structually coherent novel of the three.
Taken as a whole *The Nomad of Time* sits midway between Moorcock’s pulp fiction (Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon, etc) and his more advanced works (The Dancers at the End of Time, The City in the Autumn Stars, etc). I’m glad I finally got round to reading it but I doubt I shall ever re-read it. (less)
The second funniest work of fiction I have ever read... It's a good example of British surrealism. The British never really regarded surrealism as a s...moreThe second funniest work of fiction I have ever read... It's a good example of British surrealism. The British never really regarded surrealism as a serious artform and most examples of British surrealism are in fact strange comedies with no especial interest in the concerns of the original Surrealists (Freudian psychology, automatic writing, unpalatable honesty regarding sexual desires, etc).
This novel stands comparison with *Three Men in a Boat* or *Diary of a Nobody* but it's much more extreme and silly and ingenious. An expedition composed of misfits attempts to climb Rum Doodle, which at forty-thousand-and-a-half feet is the highest mountain in the world. First published in 1956, *The Ascent of Rum Doodle* has been reprinted several times but still remains relatively unknown, which is a shame.(less)
This hefty tome contains three of Johnson’s most famous novels, but he only wrote seven in his lifetime and three of those are unpublishable here for...moreThis hefty tome contains three of Johnson’s most famous novels, but he only wrote seven in his lifetime and three of those are unpublishable here for structural reasons, leaving only *Christy Malry’s Own Double-Entry* as a glaring omission in this volume.
Johnson is one of the most unfairly-maligned British authors of the past 50 years. His dictum that “fiction is lies” alienated many in the literary world, but it led him to attempt experiments with form that were original, entertaining and certainly valid on their own terms. Recently his work has staged something of a comeback, partly thanks to Jonathan Coe’s excellent biography of the man and his work.
This ‘Omnibus’ volume contains the following novels:
*Albert Angelo* -- first published in 1964 this is the tragicomic story of a supply teacher who dreams of being an architect but is foiled in his ambitions by the absurdities of everyday life. This text contains the notorious ‘holes in pages’ designed to allow the reader to peer ahead into the ‘future’ of the story and thus be already prepared for the violent scene ahead, a consideration that few novelists had ever shown before...
*Trawl* -- first published in 1966, the conceit of this novel is that the narrator (Johnson himself) must isolate himself from his normal life in order to ‘trawl’ his memories to locate the source of his feelings of isolation. He does this by enlisting on a North Sea trawler. It’s fiction as therapy, or rather therapy as fiction. Masses of dense text confront the reader, making this a seemingly daunting read, but in fact it’s engaging, lyrical and not as self-indulgent as it might be.
*House Mother Normal* -- first published in 1971, one of the few ‘perfect’ novels I have ever read. The same story is told from nine different perspectives with the text arranged so that the timing of all events occurs in the same place throughout each variation. The nine different viewpoints reinforce each other, contradict each other, build up a complete picture of a situation that is grotesque, ironic and horribly funny. This novel is an immense technical achievement and one of the finest experimental works ever published in English. (less)
I was disappointed by this novel. I might as well get that out in the open immediately. However, I do realise that it’s an important work and that Bat...moreI was disappointed by this novel. I might as well get that out in the open immediately. However, I do realise that it’s an important work and that Bataille’s ideas, themes and concerns are of the highest quality. *L'Abbé C* is fundamentally about the fatal aspects of utter sincerity. The story is a parody of fin de siècle ‘decadent’ novels: two brothers, twins, one of whom is a paragon of virtue, the other a depraved hedonist, are both corrupted by a woman in different ways. Bataille’s intensity of effect is extraordinary and yet I found myself wishing for lighter ironies than those he wanted to give, for humour and the playfulness of Queneau or Vian.
I first discovered Bataille about 20 years ago when I read by chance *The Story of the Eye*, still one of the most disturbing novels I have ever digested. Bataille was a fringe surrealist who believed that the mainstream surrealists weren’t really following their own manifesto and weren’t truly committing to the horrid ideals of unpalatable truth. His work is therefore far more extreme than writers such as Breton, Aragon, Prévert, etc, whom he believed to be living and working in “bad faith”. This stress on sincerity at all costs made Bataille’s concerns overlap with those of the existentialists, creating a bizarre amalgam (normally surrealism and existentialism is in opposition). (less)
A slim volume of three linked short-stories about life during wartime for those too young to become involved in the fighting. Calvino had ethical doub...moreA slim volume of three linked short-stories about life during wartime for those too young to become involved in the fighting. Calvino had ethical doubts about the value of autobiographical fiction, believing it provided too many temptations to distort the truth; but he was very good at it, even though he rarely wrote in this style. These stories are beautifully written, comic, melancholic, insightful and charming. For me, Cavino remains the perfect author.
One of the best things about Felipe Alfau's books is that they are clever metafictions which often anticipate the experiments of writers such as John...moreOne of the best things about Felipe Alfau's books is that they are clever metafictions which often anticipate the experiments of writers such as John Barth, Georges Perec and Milorad Pavic, but they are much lighter in tone. So you get the full metafictional experience without the creased brow! Apart from that, Alfau was a superb creator of eccentric characters. In *Locos: a Comedy of Gestures* we are presented with the butterfly charmer and escaped galley slave, Chinelato; the slightly sinister doctor, Jose de los Rios; Tia Mariquita, who lives in a house that coughs; Garcia the poet, who is an early tree-hugger and who ages with the seasons, growing young again every spring; and many others. All are brilliantly original protagonists.
There are very few books I have read twice, but this was my third reading of *Locos* in twenty years and it’s still in my top 10 favourite works of fiction. Although it was written in 1928, this book proved too radical for publishers and wasn’t issued until 1936. *Locos* anticipates the playful postmodernism of the 1960s; it is a book full of quirks and ideas and tricks. But Alfau was a romantic and the book can be just as tender in some parts as it is adventurous or nightmarish in others (and the section dealing with Dona Valverde is something of a horror story). Alfau had a marvellously disdainful attitude to the act of writing. The manuscript of his only other novel, the brilliant *Chromos*, languished unread in a drawer for fifty years. (less)
I first read this when Bradbury was my favourite writer back in my teenage years. I remember thinking that ‘Kaleidoscope’ was a perfect story, symmetr...moreI first read this when Bradbury was my favourite writer back in my teenage years. I remember thinking that ‘Kaleidoscope’ was a perfect story, symmetrical, ironic and quirky. I also remember enjoying ‘The Long Rain’, about men trapped on the surface of a Venus where the weather is like the weather of Ireland or Wales but even worse. ‘Usher II’ was another favourite and I regarded it as the ultimate revenge story (I was also a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe, so I got all the references). My other favourites were ‘No Particular Night or Morning’, my first introduction to the theme of existential angst, and ‘The Fox and the Forest’, which seemed ingenious and exotic.
After this re-reading, twenty-eight years later, my opinions of the individual stories haven’t changed as much as I had expected. The main differences are that I find ‘The Fox and the Forest’ to be hopelessly contrived rather than clever and that I now think the first and last stories, ‘The Veld’ and ‘The Playground’, are the strongest in the book... Bradbury was an outstanding writer, a genius of the short story, and I have read a lot of his work; but not everything he wrote was good and some of his stories can be cloying and sugary. This is one of his better collections. (less)
Delany is one of my favourite living writers, one of my favourite writers full stop in fact. This is his first novel and was published when he was onl...moreDelany is one of my favourite living writers, one of my favourite writers full stop in fact. This is his first novel and was published when he was only twenty. Although it’s probably the weakest of his books, it’s still an enthralling and engaging work of fiction. I first read it when I was about 17 years old and for some reason didn’t like it. I found the story confusing. But after this re-reading I am baffled as to why I thought that. Analog described it in a review as ‘gorgeously implausible’ and that’s exactly what it is. Implausible isn’t the same as confusing, not at all.
The novel begins in an affecting way, a lyrical opening that had the same impact on me as the start of Melville’s *Moby Dick*. Somehow Delany contrives to fill the reader with a real sense of excitement about a forthcoming voyage on a ship to a distant island. Another scene later in the book has similar force: the main characters explore the city of New Hope on elevated roads in a passage that reminded me acutely of Cordwainer Smith’s ‘Alpha Ralpha Boulevard’ (one of my favourite stories by one of my favourite SF writers) and yet I doubt that Delany was influenced by Smith, as the two pieces were published at roughly the same time. (less)
Aristophanes is now my favourite Ancient writer. I had read bits and pieces of his work before, but this is the first time I sat down and read a selec...moreAristophanes is now my favourite Ancient writer. I had read bits and pieces of his work before, but this is the first time I sat down and read a selection of his plays all the way through. These three plays are all excellent and all are themed around ‘peace’, reflecting the fact that at the time they were written and performed, Athens was engaged in a ruinous war with Sparta.
In *The Acharnians*, which is Aristophanes’ earliest surviving play, the main character decides to make his own personal peace with the Spartans over the heads of his own government. In *the Clouds* modern philosophy is held to be responsible for the ills of society (this play is very unfair to Socrates but is funny nonetheless) and in the brilliant *Lysistrata* the women of Greece decide to go on sex strike to force their men to give up fighting. Fabulous, wise and wonderful stuff!(less)
I find the work of William Burroughs fascinating, but I’m not sure I always understand it. In fact, his most experimental books, of which this is a pr...moreI find the work of William Burroughs fascinating, but I’m not sure I always understand it. In fact, his most experimental books, of which this is a prime example, are utterly incomprehensible from a rationalist, linear perspective. Their meaning seeps in to the subconscious and the reader is left with the feeling that they have almost but not quite grasped some profound set of truths fixed in a story that remains enigmatic, disturbing and genuinely strange.
The main conceit behind *The Soft Machine* seems to be that all of us are hosts to mind-parasites that are so well-established we don’t even know they are there, which makes them difficult to oppose or even comprehend properly. Over a long period of time humans have come to accept them as part of their own biology to the extent that we refer to them as our ‘id’ and ‘superego’ and assume they are a natural part of our brains. But they aren’t. They are alien outsiders, controlling us.
My friend Stuart Ross once epitomised the works of William Burroughs. Pretending to turn the pages of an imaginary Burroughs novel, he made the following running commentary: “Heroin, buggery, heroin, buggery, heroin, buggery, time-travel, heroin, buggery, heroin, time-travel, heroin, buggery…” And that’s a pretty accurate synopsis of *The Soft Machine*. But it’s not the whole story. The whole story is a lot more. I’m still trying to get to grips with it. Perhaps the mind-parasites are preventing me. (less)
Possibly my favourite Ballard book. It might not be as important as *The Atrocity Exhibition* or *Crash!* in terms of pushing the overfamiliar Ballard...morePossibly my favourite Ballard book. It might not be as important as *The Atrocity Exhibition* or *Crash!* in terms of pushing the overfamiliar Ballardian sales patter that the future is already here, that we have adapted to the savage geometries (the motorway overpass, the multiple pile-up) of the modern world to the point where the natural world is now ‘unnatural’ to us; but instead there’s a wistfulness and a wit (exceptionally dry) on display here that’s very much to my taste. For once, Ballard’s penchant for repetition, for riffs on the same themes and language, works beautifully.
The desert resort of Vermilion Sands is the ultimate paradise for creative slackers, where singing sculptures take root and grow like plants; where 'psychotropic' houses react to the moods of their owners, sometimes catastrophically; where poetry is written by computers and clothes are ‘alive’ and temperamental; where sands rays glide on the thermal rollers that travel across the fused quartz beaches; and, most magnificently, where glider pilots sculpt the clouds with sprays of silver iodide into giant fluffy seahorses and unicorns. Indeed, the opening story, ‘The Cloud Sculptors of Coral D’, is one of my favourites by any author. (less)
I picked this up a few days ago in my local library and decided to wallow in nostalgia. This was the very first novel I ever read, when I was 8 years...moreI picked this up a few days ago in my local library and decided to wallow in nostalgia. This was the very first novel I ever read, when I was 8 years old, and it turned me into a dedicated reader for life. Admittedly for several years I read nothing but *Doctor Who* novelisations (my favourites were the Zarbi and The Daemons) but eventually I was tempted to try some H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, which led me to Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe, and then to Tolstoy, Homer, Voltaire, Kafka, Nabokov, Pynchon, etc, etc. Strange as it may seem, this book was my gateway into literature and I doubt I would be a writer now if I hadn’t read it way back in 1975, shortly after it was first published.
It was therefore with mild trepidation that I ventured on a re-reading 37 years later. What did I find this time round? The book seemed a lot shorter than I recall. Hadn’t it taken me several weeks to plough through when I was a child? I was also surprised at how little action directly concerns the Doctor. Although he is supposed to be the main character, he doesn’t actually do that much and a lot of the initiative is taken by the director (of the moonbase that the cybermen are planning to attack) and his technicians. Another surprise was three assistants for the Doctor. This seemed a bit crowded; and in fact Jamie, the highlander from 1745, spends most of the book safely out of the way in the sickbay with concussion.
It’s strange the things we remember and those we don’t. I recalled the scene with the puncture in the moonbase (sealed by a coffee tray) very well; but I also recalled the Doctor’s words when he and his assistants are striding over the surface of the moon. “Careful. One tear in these space suits and you’ll suffocate...” The first time I read this, in my long lost youth, I misread the word ‘tear’ (rip) as ‘tear’ (sentimental eye water) and I was simultaneously baffled (why should crying in a space suit cause one to suffocate?) and enlightened (So that’s why they don’t have female astronauts!)(less)
I wish that *War with the Newts* had been printed on its own or that the play *RUR* had been positioned at the end of this book rather than the beginn...moreI wish that *War with the Newts* had been printed on its own or that the play *RUR* had been positioned at the end of this book rather than the beginning. I think that casual browsers who pick up this book and turn the first few pages only to encounter a play from 1920 might be put off. After all, I am a voracious reader but I only rarely read plays. Plays are for performing and watching. This isn’t to say that *RUR* isn’t an important piece of work. It manifestly is.
But the novel that follows it, *War with the Newts*, is one of the finest political, social, economic and philosophical satires written during the 20th century. The story tells of how mankind becomes the agent of its own destruction thanks to greed and the unstoppable engines of big business . It’s partly also a satire against the rise of the Nazis (it was published in 1936). The writing is crisp, clever, funny, exquisite; and the structure of the novel, full of differing viewpoints and fake newspaper cuttings, is technically ingenious.
Čapek was one of the best writers from a small nation that produced a brace of phenomenal writers. For years I was discouraged from reading his works by disaparaging references made to him in an Isaac Asimov article. By chance, I read one of Čapek’s humorous travel articles in an anthology of Traveller’s Tales and I was immediately hooked by his engaging, comical and absurdist style. Asimov was wrong (as he was so often). Like Bulgakov, Karinthy and Zamyatin, Čapek is proof that 1920s and 1930s Continental European science-fiction and fantasy was the most advanced in the world at that time…(less)
This is a large (700+ pages) omnibus of three linked fantasy novels by a writer I knew nothing about before I began reading. Turns out that it’s a hum...moreThis is a large (700+ pages) omnibus of three linked fantasy novels by a writer I knew nothing about before I began reading. Turns out that it’s a humorous fantasy in the ‘Compleat Enchanter’ tradition of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. The main character, Lafayette O'Leary, discovers a method of entering parallel dimensions using only the power of his mind. He ends up in a feudal kingdom called Artesia and undergoes many farcical adventures before getting involved with the mysterious inter-dimensional agency that ensures everything runs smoothly throughout the dimensions. There are plenty of villains, romantic escapades, hilarious set pieces and satirical sideswipes at various aspects of everyday life in a fairytale kingdom.
The first novel in the series, *The Time Bender*, is the best; and the episode involving the double headed giant Lod is an excellent piece of writing. The subsequent two novels, *The World Shuffler* and *The Shape Changer* have plots so confusing that they threaten to come apart at the seams. In the final chapters, Lafayette O’Leary seems to have wandered onto the set of a bizarre Marx Brothers film. But ultimately, despite all the faults (the casual sexism, the sometimes lazy writing, the borrowing of too many elements from De Camp and Pratt) this is an engrossing, exciting and daft read full of invention and surprises; and I thoroughly enjoyed it.(less)
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