Tuesday 23 May 2023

Reflections On Martin Amis

 Hearing the sad news of Martin Amis' death I stopped work and went to my favourite bar for lunch and a beer mourning our loss.

Not a week goes by without hearing of a celebrities death and while most don't affect me Amis' death did.  His death was the death of a comrade, of a fellow writer, and a great one at that.  It is also the death of an age.  

In my youth I dead five books of Amis.  'The Rachel Papers', 'Dead Babies', 'Einstein's Monsters', 'Time's Arrow' and 'Success'.  I found him to be an incredibly resourceful writer, an impeccable stylist, a contrarian, and enormously gifted at the craft of writing.  

His construction of his books is ingenious, playing games with the reader and indulging in dark humour wickedly.  As to his style he wouldn't be who he was without Saul Bellow and Vladimir Nabokov, both highly stylised writers.  He was truly modern who wrote about taxi cabs and junk food, the Americanisation of Britain and ASBOS.  

Some people attribute Amis' talent to his famous novelist father Kingsley Amis, writer of 'Lucky Jim', but I think it would be more accurate to his his work as of his own making, though takingly similar themes as Kingsley in a different way.

I've yet to read his most famous work 'Money', something which I am looking forward to as it was been quite a while since I have read anything by him.

So to Martin I raise a glass and say thanks for the enjoyment you gave me. 


Monday 16 January 2023

'Thr Wordsmiths and the Warguild' by Hugh Cook


 

The second book in a series of ten, the Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series, by British writer Hugh Cook, 'The Wordsmiths and the Warguild' is about Togura Poulaan who is charged with a mission.   The mission being to find a thing called the Index so that the Wordsmiths, a powerful group in the city of Sung, can extract the mysteries within a type of vortex called the Odex.  A special incentive spurs Togura on as his one true love, Day Suet, has fallen into it.

So on a journey with walking rocks, pirates, sea-dragons, and wizards, begins to unfold itself with very few clues as to where this Index is.  There is also the side quest for Togura to finally lose his virginity.  He finds himself out of his depth very quickly.  In fact he spends a lot of his time in places he would rather not be.

I read the first book of the series, 'The Wizards and the Warrirors', two or three years ago as a random buy from my local fantasy/ sci-fi bookshop but I ended up loving it so much that I had bought the whole series to enjoy.  

What do I love about Hugh Cook?  His sheer inventiveness is mind blowing and his use of language is truly unique and very funny.  His characters tend to be larger than life and the impossible adventures they go on makes you gripped as to how they are going to get through such a journey.  

In 'The Wordsmiths and the Warguild' Togura is a very likeable character who is an ordinary man forced to turn adventurer for the love of his life.  The story twists and twists making you want to read more to see how it will all resolve itself.  The characters are rich and compelling driven by their own motivations either helping or hindering Togura.

The series was planned to be a huge sixty books but Cook had to stop at ten because they weren't selling well enough.  Still ten books is an impressive achievement and though he is not very well known they hold a special place in my heart as I enjoy how much fun it can be to read such books.  

Monday 9 January 2023

'Evolution' by Stephen Baxter

 



Happy New Year!  Another one to add to the billions that have already occurred to life on this planet.  And I kick start the year with a book about how we came to be, 'Evolution' by Stephen Baxter, which is about the evolution of our species from the age of the dinosaurs to life five hundred million years into the future.

It is a novel and speculates on what it must have been like to live sixty-five million years ago as one of our shrew-like ancestors who survived the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs.  This novel is fraught with near death experiences as much is about survival in a harsh world, full of danger and doing the best you can to see another day.

This book can be seen as a conceptual series of short stories that are linked by theme.  It is hard sci-fi so if you love your science then you will get a lot out of this book but it is no text book, it is a work of fiction despite it being so heavily influenced by current day science.  It does not pretend to be accurate.

As someone who found Darwin's 'Origin of Species' to be quite dry I am glad that there is an emotional piece of work about the theory of evolution.  This gives me a better understanding of how evolution works, how small changes in one ancestor can have an effect over the whole lineage of beings that come after it.

It's not just about the past but it goes far into the future seeing what a post-human age would look like and I found that to be utterly fascinating.  There will be more co-operation, more symbiotic relationships and the human civilisation would have disappeared completely.  There would be things created by NASA would make an appearance in this new world in their search for answers.

It's a stark look, and a bold sweep, over the whole arc of human evolution that gives us keener insights to our lives on this ever circling planet of ours.
 


   

Wednesday 14 December 2022

'An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth' by Chris Hadfield


 Want to know what it's like being in space?  Chris Hadfield gives us the tour.

Subtitled 'Life Lessons from Space' this book is packed full of wisdom that one can apply to ordinary life.  Sweating the small stuff, aiming to be a zero, Hadfield identifies what makes him qualified to be an astronaut while retaining his ultimate lesson, humility.  

It's a book that would have been tremendously useful while I was writing my long poem about the first astronaut in space, 'The First Man In Space', as it is full of authentic details about being up in space for so long.  Handling the day to day practicalities of life in space, to the space walks with their awe-inspiring views, and singing Bowie's 'Space Oddity' become lessons in how to live life to the fullest, gaining the most out of each moment.

Hadfield was extremely helpful to me during the lock downs as we were all in our space stations under extreme conditions and gave ,me perspective on what it might be like to live in space.  Understanding the risk of any given situation helps us better to prepare for the unexpected and helps us push past our fear.  Hadfield is afraid of heights yet he is able to overcome this drawback in order to do his job.

He explains his first space walk 'It's like this, I think.  It's like being engrossed in cleaning a pane of glass, then you look over your shoulder and realize you're hanging off the side of the Empire State Building, Manhattan sprawled vividly beneath and around you.'  An experience to be remembered and shared as affirming and progressive.

This book has given me a greater appreciation for the rigours of going to space, from the examinations to get selected, to the post-flight treatment and more importantly insight into NASA's philosophy of working in a team and how, ultimately, we all share one planet and in it's magnificent beauty it's us who have to look after it for generations to come.     

 

Tuesday 15 November 2022

The 'Empire' Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts


 


'Daughter of the Empire', 'Servant of the Empire', and 'Mistress of the Empire' gave me escapism when I needed to escape the most.

Following a long period of ill health I found, and turned to, these books with their worlds of empires, bloodthirsty political clans and slavery.  

It follows the protagonist Mara and her journey from being in a monastery to becoming the highly respected Servant of the Empire.  With this is her transformation from dark violence to benevolent rulership.

As the books have a strong female character it naturally reminds me of Sigrid Undset's female lead Kristin Lavransdatter, who undergoes great hardship in securing her place.  Though Mara ascends to the top her position is always precarious as other clans cook up plots to get rid of her.

These books are set in the land of Kelewan, a land familiar from other Feist books like 'Magician' where old favourites like Pug make a cameo.

Dense with political shenanigans I found that through the machinations of the various clans there were moments that spoke out with deep beauty.  Such as when the Spymaster falls in love or when Mara falls in love with the barbarian slave who turns her worldview upside down.  

The time taken to build up these characters throughout the book's many pages becomes satisfying when there is a twist to how these characters function and become changed people.  It is an optimistic book about the capacity to change.  

Stephen Donaldson said that n fantasy and sci-fi man becomes an 'effective passion' and Mara's ability to effective change for the greater good makes that statement manifest.  

 

Tuesday 20 July 2021

'The Theory of the Modern Stage' edited by Eric Bentley



'If my readers are not more sophisticated than this before they read this book, I hope they will be afterwards.' An admirable aim for any book and quite possibly justified as these essays by some of the great practitioners of theatre will give a lot to work with.

From Adolphe Appia to Alexis de Tocqueville 'The Theory of the Modern Stage' edited by Eric Bentley covers a range of topics such as the sociology of modern drama, naturalism, the Theatre of Cruelty and much more.  A book to dip in and out with nourishing ideas and experiments.

In such a book you will find statements such as: 'the root of all evil in modern art, and especially in the art in drama, Wagner finds to be the fact that 'modern art is a mere product of culture, and not sprung from life itself.'  

And from George Lukacs:  Man's significance consists only of this, that the game cannot be played without him, that men are the only possible hieroglyphs with which the mysterious inscription may be composed...'  Statements that theatrical types often make which may surprise some but comes naturally to them and their way of thinking.

For the history of theatre (this was published in 1968) it is almost invaluable as a beginning to understand the world of theatre.  And though some ways of doing things become unfashionable and done better this is also the way of things, for as Georg Brandes says: 'what cannot stand the ideas of the time must succumb.' 

Wednesday 14 July 2021

'The Making of the British Landscape' by Nicholas Crane


 This blog marks a very special moment as it is number one hundred and so in marking that flag in the sand I give you a book about the country I live in.  For every who reads these blogs you have my eternal thanks and I hope to keep writing another hundred as I have a few bookcases to get through. 

What does a patriot understand about Britain.  Ask a typical one and what will you get?  Maybe a comprehensive account of Britain's history, maybe flag waving.  

Since I live on this island I might as well learn something about it, why it is the way it is, and find out who the hell we are.

'The creation of Europe's largest island was unlikely to have been the cause of celebration.' And we've been causing trouble ever since.  Britain is the balance of Europe's powers making sure that no one nation could achieve overall control.  

We are Europe but separated from it.  An ambiguous cousin not entirely sure they want to be part of the family.  We're independent but not immune from invasion.  We produce some of the greatest geniuses that revolutionised the whole world and once we had the whole world in our hands.  Small dogs with big ambitions.

We were once connected to Europe physically by a place called doggerland, now sunk in the sea.  We had Romans, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Normans all pay a visit, wild Celts and wild animals hung around, the history is one of continual transformation, albeit over many generations.

'Britain's first fieldworker', John Leland of the 14th Centaury, captivated me.  He was on a royal mission to rescue 'bibliographic treasures' from libraries after the suppression of the monasteries and privately as a topographer charted the land he inhabited.  He saw more of the country than anyone else at the time.  He also, for reasons unknown, went mad.  

'He knew he was compiling an unprecedented audit of a remarkable land, but he also knew that it could never be finished.'  It sounded like an idyllic journey, in a Britain that 'was almost entirely green: a rumpled, rustic island sparsely dotted with tiny, intense hubs of urban activity.'  How times change.

Our ancestors had different ideas of life.  They built monuments to their ancestors where 'the stones and the earth would be bequeathed to the next generation.  They were expressions of continuity in a timeless world that gave so few years to the ant-like routines of humankind.'  

Stonehenge, the White Horse of Uffington, St. Paul's Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle, the M5, all expressions of every age making it's mark on an island.  A flags are not enough I need mythology and certainly this book gives much a lot of what I need.  I love Britain.      


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