WILLIAM (BROWN) THE CONQUEROR British children’s writers usually find favour in America—from A. A. Milne and Kenneth Grahame to J. K. Rowling and Nick Park—but one who has never quite captured American hearts is Richmal Crompton, author of the classic Just William stories. Why this should be is unclear, because at their best the stories… Continue reading
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The romance of the classical – on the Appian Way
THE ROMANCE OF THE CLASSICAL To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside. Passing for ever, he fares; and on either hand, Deep in the gardens golden pavilions hide R. L. Stevenson, Songs of Travel No youth, but a man in his 40s bareheaded under merciless sun. Nor were there any golden pavilions… Continue reading
Greens, reds and blues, and the extinction of distinction
GREENS, REDS, BLUES AND THE EXTINCTION OF DISTINCTION Ka ngaro I te ngaro a te Moa (“We are lost as the moa is lost”) Maori lament There he kneels, the young, proud, ignorant farmer – posing smiling with his dog and gun, and the unusual-looking predator he has just killed propped up against the fence…. Continue reading
Roy Kerridge and the relative merits of Marxism
ROY KERRIDGE AND THE RELATIVE MERITS OF MARXISM Triumphs of Communism, Roy Kerridge, Custom Books, 2010 All novels are semi-autobiographical, although novelists will often demur and claim their characters are composites. But Roy Kerridge is unapologetic about plucking real people from his family’s past and serving them up for public degustation, with only the most… Continue reading
Man of Aran – Erse ethnofiction
MAN OF ARAN – ERSE ETHNOFICTION Man of Aran (1934) The Aran Islands guard the mouth of Galway Bay, a NW to SE diagonal archipelago made up of three major islands – Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer – plus a couple of tiny uninhabited islets. Whether seen from the Clare or Connemara mainlands, from one of… Continue reading
An anti-Pilgrim’s Progress
AN ANTI-PILGRIM’S PROGRESS The Columbine Pilgrim Andy Nowicki, Counter Currents, San Francisco, 2011, pb, 107pps Andy Nowicki is a self- described “dissident reactionary malcontent” Catholic – and his second novel is an eloquent and original examination of the enduring effects of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. The excellently-delineated and aptly named Tony Meander is… Continue reading
John Wheeler-Bennett – high-carb historian
JOHN WHEELER-BENNETT – HIGH-CARB HISTORIAN Witness to History: The Life of John Wheeler-Bennett Victoria Schofield, New Haven: Yale University Press 346 pp., $50 Yale University Press promises that Witness to History “will fascinate anyone interested in the great political figures of world history during the twentieth century.” On this book’s back cover, Alistair Horne hails John… Continue reading
Anthony Powell – England’s Proust
ANTHONY POWELL – ENGLAND’S PROUST A Dance to the Music of Time Reading Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time can seem a formidable commitment. It is a series of twelve novels (totalling one million words) published between 1951 and 1975, following the lives of over 300 characters during seven decades of the… Continue reading
Nosferatu – Monster of Mitteleuropa
A street in Sighisoara (formerly Schassburg) – home town of Vlad “Dracul” Tepes, the 15th century Wallachian prince whose bloodthirsty reputation helped inspire Bram Stoker NOSFERATU – MONSTER OF MITTELEUROPA The dreadful concept of the vampire is common to many cultures, but although there are vampire stories native to Britain (such as that surrounding Croglin… Continue reading
Homage to suburbia – The Diary of a Nobody
HOMAGE TO SUBURBIA The Diary of a Nobody George & Weedon Grossmith In a recent book, Freedoms of Suburbia, former New Society editor Paul Barker notes ruefully To call anyone or anything ‘suburban’ is to utter a put-down, an anathema, a curse For many (especially on the left), the word evokes a lazy, unfair cliché… Continue reading