DOCSLIB.ORG

LIVING with a WRITER Also by Dale Salwak

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
LIVING with a WRITER Also by Dale Salwak LIVING WITH A WRITER Also by Dale Salwak KINGSLEY AMIS: A REFERENCE GUIDE JOHN BRAINE AND JOHN WAIN: A REFERENCE GUIDE JOHN WAIN A. J. CRONIN: A REFERENCE GUIDE LITERARY VOICES: INTERVIEWS WITH BRITAIN’S ‘ANGRY YOUNG MEN’ A. J. CRONIN THE LIFE AND WORK OF BARBARA PYM (editor) CARL SANDBURG: A REFERENCE GUIDE PHILIP LARKIN: THE MAN AND HIS WORK (editor) KINGSLEY AMIS: IN LIFE AND LETTERS (editor) BARBARA PYM: A REFERENCE GUIDE MYSTERY VOICES: INTERVIEWS WITH BRITISH CRIME WRITERS KINGSLEY AMIS, MODERN NOVELIST ANNE TYLER AS NOVELIST (editor) THE WONDERS OF SOLITUDE THE WORDS OF CHRIST THE WISDOM OF JUDAISM THE LITERARY BIOGRAPHY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS (editor) THE POWER OF PRAYER A PASSION FOR BOOKS (editor) LIVING WITH A WRITER Edited by DALE SALWAK Professor of English Citrus College California Chapter 1 © Malcolm Bradbury Estate 1988 Selection, editorial matter, Preface and Conclusion © Dale Salwak 2004 Individual chapters (in order) © Ann Thwaite; Paul Theroux; Edmund Morris; Michael Holroyd; Margaret Drabble; William Golding Ltd and Judy Carver; John Halperin; George Howe Colt; John Updike; David Updike; Catherine Aird; Brian Aldiss; Kathleen Symons; Frances H. Bachelder; James J. Berg; John Bayley; Felix Licensing BV and Nadine Gordimer 2004 and by permission of Russell & Volkening as agents for the author; Amanda Craig; Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan; Jeffrey Meyers; Mary Ann Caws; Laurel Young; Betty Fussell; Rob Rollison; Hershel Parker 2004 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 978-1-4039-0476-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Living with a writer / edited by Dale Salwak. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Authors, English—20th century—Family relationships. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Family relationships. 3. Authors, Commonwealth— 20th century—Family relationships. 4. Authors’ spouses—Commonwealth countries—Biography. 5. Authors’ spouses—Great Britain—Biography. 6. Authors’ spouses—United States—Biography. I. Salwak, Dale. PR107.L58 2004 820.9′0091—dc22 [B] 2004045622 10987654321 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 ISBN 978-1-349-72225-9 ISBN 978-1-137-07998-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-07998-5 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2009 For writers, their relations and friends Contents Preface x Acknowledgements xiii Notes on the Contributors xiv Part I The Pleasures 1 The Spouse in the House 3 Malcolm Bradbury 2 Living with Writers 13 Ann Thwaite 3 Lady Naipaul 25 Paul Theroux 4 Lady of Letters: Living with Sylvia Jukes Morris 27 Edmund Morris 5 Yesterday’s News 37 Michael Holroyd 6 The Open Door 40 Margaret Drabble 7 Harbour and Voyage: The Marriage of Ann and Bill Golding 44 Judy Carver 8 C. P. Snow and Pamela Hansford Johnson at Home 56 John Halperin 9 Hong Kong Time 65 George Howe Colt vii viii CONTENTS 10 Writers as Progenitors and Offspring 77 John Updike 11 My Grandmother’s Only Son 80 David Updike 12 I am Two Fools – Or Home Alone 85 Catherine Aird 13 Margaret 92 Brian W. Aldiss 14 Living with Julian 99 Kathleen Symons 15 When Writing Entered My Mind 107 Frances H. Bachelder 16 Pen and Ink: The Life and Work of Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy 114 James J. Berg Part II The Problems 17 Forget She (or He) Is a Writer, and All May Be Well 131 John Bayley 18 Getting Along with Myself 134 Nadine Gordimer 19 The Pantomime Horse 137 Amanda Craig 20 Can This Collaboration Be Saved? 142 Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan 21 Maugham’s Marriage 146 Jeffrey Meyers 22 Being Two of Us 163 Mary Ann Caws 23 The Mystery of the Vanishing Wife 176 Laurel Young 24 Room for One 184 Betty Fussell CONTENTS ix 25 Peter Levi: A Corresponding Friendship 189 Rob Rollison 26 Damned by Dollars: Moby-Dick and the Price of Genius 202 Hershel Parker Conclusion: A Perilous Art 223 Dale Salwak Index 230 Preface ‘They wrote in the morning, they walked in the afternoon, they read in the evening.’ Quentin Bell’s description of the happy and productive life that Leonard and Virginia Woolf lived at Hogarth House in Surrey strikes many of us as ideal for the serious writer. ‘Despite madness, suicide, infidelities, resentments and betrayals’, said one commentator, ‘in some important ways these people had their priorities straight.’ It may be said of many authors that they refined their relationship at home into a work of art. In Donald Hall’s marriage to the late Jane Kenyon, for example, ‘loving to work’ became their nature: although the poets did not speak all morning, ‘her presence in her own study’, working on as he worked, meant everything to him, enabling him to concentrate on his own writing. Had he married someone who preferred society and conversation, Hall admits, he would have wasted his time at parties. Solitude won out over company because their personal and professional relationship thrived on it. But life with a writer can be troubling, too, especially when one partner is spending so many working hours wandering far off in a fictional landscape and the other is not. Estelle Faulkner never adjusted to her husband’s moods and closed-mouthed ways. ‘With- out open communication between them’, writes Stephen B. Oates, ‘they both drank too much: Faulkner when he wasn’t writing, Estelle when he was.’ And in her last years, Emma Lavinia Gifford, the first wife of Thomas Hardy, lived and died in two miserable attic rooms as her husband wrote Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure and other fine works in the study directly beneath. ‘He treated her with a cruel x PREFACE xi lack of understanding,’ says John Fowles. ‘You stand there and still feel the pain, their separate isolation, in those tiny upper rooms.’ The idea for a volume of essays on the subject of life with a writer had been percolating in my mind since 1985, when I read an interview with Fowles in which the questioner asked: ‘[Elizabeth] plays a very important role in your life as wife and critic, doesn’t she?’ To which Fowles responded, ‘A writer’s wife is vital. Always, without exception ... I wish someone would study novelists’ wives – or husbands now.’ With that challenge in mind, three years ago I invited twenty-seven people whose lives were intertwined in some way with authors to reflect upon the following questions: What does it mean to live with a writer? What makes the arrangement work, or not work, and why? How does life at home contribute to the creative process? What is the cost of a masterpiece or a caring relationship? In one way or another I suspect that most writers have asked these questions – though not necessarily of someone who might be able to answer with such insight and candor. Thus prompted, the contributors take us on journeys that are full of startling turns – oftentimes humorous, many times saddening, but always fascinating as they reveal some of the pleasures and problems of living with a writer or, in two instances, with them- selves as writers. As the title implies, I cast my net wide to include not only novelists but also poets, biographers, scholars, editors and collaborators. I provided the focus and theme for the book, made suggestions for possible approaches, but left it to each contributor to decide on a direction. Husbands and wives, other relatives and friends – all have a say about the sometimes volatile, sometimes magical chemistry that drives and shapes the creative process. The collection may seem eclectic, even somewhat random – certainly it does not aspire to be comprehensive. What the essays do have in common is a glimpse behind private doors into very private worlds. Twenty-one are entirely original; most of the others the authors have revised, some heavily, to fit the book’s theme and focus. As always, my task as editor has been much eased by my parents, Dr Stanley and Frances H. Salwak, by my wife, Patricia, and by my colleagues, Dr Reginald D. Clarke and Dr Laura Nagy. Above all, of xii PREFACE course, are my contributors, for whom I only provide a forum. This book is truly theirs, and I am very grateful for their eloquent essays. I hope that readers everywhere will experience what I have felt throughout the project from inception to completion: pure pleasure.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Routledge History of Literature in English
    The Routledge History of Literature in English ‘Wide-ranging, very accessible . highly attentive to cultural and social change and, above all, to the changing history of the language. An expansive, generous and varied textbook of British literary history . addressed equally to the British and the foreign reader.’ MALCOLM BRADBURY, novelist and critic ‘The writing is lucid and eminently accessible while still allowing for a substantial degree of sophistication. The book wears its learning lightly, conveying a wealth of information without visible effort.’ HANS BERTENS, University of Utrecht This new guide to the main developments in the history of British and Irish literature uniquely charts some of the principal features of literary language development and highlights key language topics. Clearly structured and highly readable, it spans over a thousand years of literary history from AD 600 to the present day. It emphasises the growth of literary writing, its traditions, conventions and changing characteristics, and also includes literature from the margins, both geographical and cultural. Key features of the book are: • An up-to-date guide to the major periods of literature in English in Britain and Ireland • Extensive coverage of post-1945 literature • Language notes spanning AD 600 to the present • Extensive quotations from poetry, prose and drama • A timeline of important historical, political and cultural events • A foreword by novelist and critic Malcolm Bradbury RONALD CARTER is Professor of Modern English Language in the Department of English Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is editor of the Routledge Interface series in language and literary studies. JOHN MCRAE is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies at the University of Nottingham and has been Visiting Professor and Lecturer in more than twenty countries.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Download Further Requirements: Interviews
    FURTHER REQUIREMENTS: INTERVIEWS, BROADCASTS, STATEMENTS AND REVIEWS, 1952-85 PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Philip Larkin,Anthony Thwaite | 416 pages | 04 Nov 2002 | FABER & FABER | 9780571216147 | English | London, United Kingdom Further Requirements: Interviews, Broadcasts, Statements and Reviews, 1952-85 PDF Book When you have read it, take me by the hand As children do, loving simplicity. Shopbop Designer Modemarken. In Thwaite's poems there is rarely much in the way of display and few extravagant local effects. Geben Sie Feedback zu dieser Seite. Andere Formate: Gebundenes Buch , Taschenbuch. Cookies akzeptieren Cookie-Einstellungen anpassen. Thwaite is also an accomplished comic poet. Author statement 'If I could sum up my poetry in a few well-chosen words, the result might be a poem. Entdecken Sie jetzt alle Amazon Prime-Vorteile. Poetry and What is Real. Philip Larkin remains England's best-loved poet - a writer matchlessly capable of evoking his native land and of touching all readers from the most sophisticated intellectual to the proverbial common reader. Etwas ist schiefgegangen. Next page. Weitere Informationen bei Author Central. Philip Larkin. Anthony Thwaite. While Larkin views them in terms of the personal life, or at most, of England, Thwaite, who has travelled widely and worked overseas for extended periods, can also find them in an alien setting, for example in North Africa. Previous page. Artists, cultural professionals and art collective members in the UK and Southeast A… 1 days ago. Sind Sie ein Autor? Urbane, weary, aphoristic, certain that nothing and everything changes, the poems draw both on Cavafy and Lawrence Durrell. This entirely new edition brings together all of Philip Larkin's poems.
    [Show full text]
  • Redgrove Papers: Letters
    Redgrove Papers: letters Archive Date Sent To Sent By Item Description Ref. No. Noel Peter Answer to Kantaris' letter (page 365) offering back-up from scientific references for where his information came 1 . 01 27/07/1983 Kantaris Redgrove from - this letter is pasted into Notebook one, Ref No 1, on page 365. Peter Letter offering some book references in connection with dream, mesmerism, and the Unconscious - this letter is 1 . 01 07/09/1983 John Beer Redgrove pasted into Notebook one, Ref No 1, on page 380. Letter thanking him for a review in the Times (entitled 'Rhetoric, Vision, and Toes' - Nye reviews Robert Lowell's Robert Peter 'Life Studies', Peter Redgrove's 'The Man Named East', and Gavin Ewart's 'The Young Pobbles Guide To His Toes', 1 . 01 11/05/1985 Nye Redgrove Times, 25th April 1985, p. 11); discusses weather-sensitivity, and mentions John Layard. This letter is pasted into Notebook one, Ref No 1, on page 373. Extract of a letter to Latham, discussing background work on 'The Black Goddess', making reference to masers, John Peter 1 . 01 16/05/1985 pheromones, and field measurements in a disco - this letter is pasted into Notebook one, Ref No 1, on page 229 Latham Redgrove (see 73 . 01 record). John Peter Same as letter on page 229 but with six and a half extra lines showing - this letter is pasted into Notebook one, Ref 1 . 01 16/05/1985 Latham Redgrove No 1, on page 263 (this is actually the complete letter without Redgrove's signature - see 73 .
    [Show full text]
  • "The Problem of Predicting What Will Last"
    Allan Massie, "The Problem of Predicting What Will Last" Booksonline, with Amazon.co.uk (An Electronic Telegraph Publication) 4 January 2000 As our Book of the Century series concludes, Allan Massie compares the list with one published by The Daily Telegraph 100 years ago EACH WEEK for the past two years The Daily Telegraph’s literary editor has asked a contributor to name and describe his or her "Book of the Century", and today the series concludes with Arthur C. Clarke’s choice. The full selection invites comparison with a list drawn up by The Telegraph a century ago; we print both here. The comparison cannot, however, be exact. All the books chosen in 1899 were fiction - the paper offered its readers the "100 Best Novels in the World", selected by the editor "with the assistance of Sir Edwin Arnold, K. C. I. E, H. D. Traill, D. C. L, and W. L. Courtney, LL. D.". The modern list includes poetry, plays, history, diaries, philosophy, economics, memoirs, biography and travel writing. It is certainly eclectic, ranging from Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, selected by David Sylvester, to The Wind in the Willows, chosen by John Bayley, and Down with Skool, Wendy Cope’s Book of the Century. The 1899 list, on offer at the time in a cloth-bound edition at nine guineas the lot (easy terms available), is homogeneous, as the modern one is not, not only because it consists entirely of works of fiction but also because the selection was made by a small group. And since they were picking the 100 Best Novels, they were able to include books that nobody might name as a single "Book of the Century" but which many might put in their top 20 or so.
    [Show full text]
  • Illusion and Reality in the Fiction of Iris Murdoch: a Study of the Black Prince, the Sea, the Sea and the Good Apprentice
    ILLUSION AND REALITY IN THE FICTION OF IRIS MURDOCH: A STUDY OF THE BLACK PRINCE, THE SEA, THE SEA AND THE GOOD APPRENTICE by REBECCA MODEN A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (Mode B) Department of English School of English, Drama and American and Canadian Studies University of Birmingham September 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis considers how Iris Murdoch radically reconceptualises the possibilities of realism through her interrogation of the relationship between life and art. Her awareness of the unreality of realist conventions leads her to seek new forms of expression, resulting in daring experimentation with form and language, exploration of the relationship between author and character, and foregrounding of the artificiality of the text. She exposes the limitations of language, thereby involving herself with issues associated with the postmodern aesthetic. The Black Prince is an artistic manifesto in which Murdoch repeatedly destroys the illusion of the reality of the text in her attempts to make language communicate truth. Whereas The Black Prince sees Murdoch contemplating Hamlet, The Sea, The Sea meditates on The Tempest, as Murdoch returns to Shakespeare in order to examine the relationship between life and art.
    [Show full text]
  • `The Campus Novel`: Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury, David Lodge – a Comparative Study
    `The Campus Novel`: Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury, David Lodge – a comparative study Lucie Mohelníková Bachelor Thesis 2009 ***scanned submission page 2*** ABSTRAKT Hlavním zám ěrem této práce nebylo pouze p řiblížit žánr “univerzitního románu” a jeho nejznám ější britské autory, ale také vysv ětlit a ukázat, pro č se univerzitní romány Kingsleyho Amise a jeho následovník ů Malcolma Bradburyho a Davida Lodge t ěší tak velké popularit ě. Každý z t ěchto autor ů m ěl sv ůj osobitý styl psaní a vytvo řil nezapomenutelný satirický román. Klí čová slova: rozlobení mladí muži, Hnutí, Jim Dixon, Stuart Treece, Phillip Swallow, Morris Zapp, univerzitní román ABSTRACT The main intention of this thesis is not only to introduce the genre of “campus novel” and its most known British authors but also to explain and demonstrate why the campus novels by Kingsley Amis and his successors Malcolm Bradbury and David Lodge are that much popular. Each of these authors had his own individual style of writing and created an unforgettable satiric novel. Keywords: Angry Young Men, The Movement, Jim Dixon, Stuart Treece, Phillip Swallow, Morris Zapp, campus novel ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Barbora Kašpárková for her kind help and guidance throughout my thesis. DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own and certify that any secondary material used has been acknowledged in the text and listed in the bibliography. March 13, 2009 …………………………………… CONTENT 1 CAMPUS NOVEL ........................................................................................................9
    [Show full text]
  • Poetic Madness in Malcolm Bradbury's Eating People Is Wrong
    Poetic Madness 5 ___ 10.2478/abcsj-2021-0002 Poetic Madness in Malcolm Bradbury’s Eating People Is Wrong NOUREDDINE FRIJI King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia Abstract This article addresses the age-old correlation between poetic genius and madness as represented in Malcolm Bradbury’s academic novel Eating People Is Wrong (1959), zeroing in on a student-cum-poet and a novelist- cum-poet called Louis Bates and Carey Willoughby, respectively. While probing this unexplored theme in Bradbury’s novel, I pursue three primary aims. To begin with, I seek to demonstrate that certain academics’ tendency to fuse or confuse the poetic genius of their students and colleagues with madness is not only rooted in inherited assumptions, generalizations, and exaggerations but also in their own antipathy towards poets on the grounds that they persistently diverge from social norms. Second, I endeavour to ignite readers’ enthusiasm about the academic novel subgenre by underscoring the vital role it plays in energizing scholarly debate about the appealing theme of poetic madness. Lastly, the study concedes that notwithstanding the prevalence of prejudice among their populations, universities, on the whole, do not relinquish their natural veneration for originality, discordant views, and rewarding dialogue. Keywords: academic novel, genius, poetic madness, Malcolm Bradbury, originality, critical thinking Much Madness is divinest Sense – To a discerning Eye – Much Sense – the starkest Madness – ’Tis the Majority In this, as All, prevail – Assent – and you
    [Show full text]
  • Doktori Disszertáció
    Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem Bölcsészettudományi Kar DOKTORI DISSZERTÁCIÓ Székely Péter The Academic Novel in the Age of Postmodernity: The Anglo-American Metafictional Academic Novel Irodalomtudományi Doktori Iskola, A doktori Iskola vezetője: Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernő Modern Angol és Amerikai Irodalom Program, A program vezetője: Dr. Sarbu Aladár A bizottság tagjai és tudományos fokozatuk: Elnök: Dr. Kállay Géza PhD., dr. habil., egyetemi tanár Hivatalosan felkért bírálók: Dr. Fülöp Zsuzsanna CSc., egyetemi docens Dr. Sarbu Aladár DSc., egyetemi tanár Titkár: Dr. Farkas Ákos PhD., egyetemi docens További tagok: Dr. Bényei Tamás PhD. CSc., dr. habil., egyetemi docens Dr. Péteri Éva PhD., egyetemi adjunktus Dr. Takács Ferenc PhD., egyetemi docens Témavezető és tudományos fokozata: Dr. Dávidházi Péter DSc., dr. habil., egyetemi tanár Budapest, 2009 Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 4 I. WHAT IS AN ACADEMIC NOVEL? .......................................................................................... 11 1.1. NOMENCLATURE ................................................................................................................................. 11 1.2. THE DIFFICULTIES OF DEFINING ACADEMIC FICTION ................................................................................ 12 1.2.1. THE STEREOTYPICAL NOTION OF THE ACADEMIC NOVEL ............................................................................ 12 1.2.2.
    [Show full text]
  • A Legacy to Literature J.R.R
    A Legacy to Literature J.R.R. Tolkien’s signature in the A word from our President RSL Roll Book The Royal Society of Literature honours English writing at its finest. Through talks, debates and readings we help to celebrate the past and vitalise the future. But our work can never be taken for granted. We rely not only on membership subscriptions, but “Britain’s literature, both on the generosity of donors. Legacies bequeathed in a will, even modest past and present, is ones, can be especially important. unrivalled, and the Royal Society of Literature is the I myself will be bequeathing to the Royal only organisation devoted Society of Literature the earnings from my books. I feel sure there could be no to ensuring that it remains recipient more worthy. Others who I am so. Its work has never aware have made provision for the RSL in been more important” their wills include the President Emeritus, Michael Holroyd, Michael Holroyd, and Giles St Aubyn, who N HE President Emeritus C will be leaving a substantial sum to fund N grants for writers of non-fiction early in YA their careers. For those who value the beauty and “The RSL offers the expressiveness of the English language, best, and best-value, a legacy to the RSL is an apt and lasting programme of literary contribution. Please give it thought. The talks and discussions in Society – and countless others – will be deeply grateful. London – a unique blend of literary seriousness Colin Thubron and lively comment” President Maggie Gee, former Chair Polly Toynbee and Aminatta Forna at ARD “What’s the Use of N U Literature?”, C June 2011 NICK Leaving a legacy By leaving a gift to the Society in your Awards, prizes and grants will, you could help to secure N SO the future of the following N “Receiving this award was a wonderful, OPKI unforeseen boon..
    [Show full text]
  • Adult Trade January-June 2018
    BLOOMSBURY January – June 2018 NEW TITLES January – June 2018 2 Original Fiction 12 Paperback Fiction 26 Crime, Thriller & Mystery 32 Paperback Crime, Thriller & Mystery 34 Original Non-Fiction 68 Food 78 Wellbeing 83 Popular Science 87 Nature Writing & Outdoors 92 Religion 93 Sport 99 Business 102 Maritime 104 Paperback Non-fiction 128 Bloomsbury Contact List & International Sales 131 Social Media Contacts 132 Index export information TPB Trade Paperback PAPERBACK B format paperback (dimensions 198 mm x 129 mm) Peach Emma Glass Introducing a visionary new literary voice – a novel as poetic as it is playful, as bold as it is strangely beautiful omething has happened to Peach. Blood runs down her legs Sand the scent of charred meat lingers on her flesh. It hurts to walk but she staggers home to parents that don’t seem to notice. They can’t keep their hands off each other and, besides, they have a new infant, sweet and wobbly as a jelly baby. Peach must patch herself up alone so she can go to college and see her boyfriend, Green. But sleeping is hard when she is haunted by the gaping memory of a mouth, and working is hard when burning sausage fat fills her nostrils, and eating is impossible when her stomach is swollen tight as a drum. In this dazzling debut, Emma Glass articulates the unspeakable with breathtaking clarity and verve. Intensely physical, with rhythmic, visceral prose, Peach marks the arrival of a ground- breaking new talent. 11 JANUARY 2018 HARDBACK • 9781408886694 • £12.99 ‘An immensely talented young writer . Her fearlessness renews EBOOK • 9781408886670 • £10.99 one’s faith in the power of literature’ ANZ PUB DATE 01 FEBRUARY 2018 George Saunders HARDBACK • AUS $24.99 • NZ $26.99 TERRITORY: WO ‘You'll be unable to put it down until the very last sentence’ TRANSLATION RIGHTS: BLOOMSBURY Kamila Shamsie ‘Peach is a work of genius.
    [Show full text]
  • Malcolm Bradbury and the Creation of Creative Writing at UEA ABSTRACT When Did Creative Writing Cour
    Lise Jaillant Myth Maker: Malcolm Bradbury and the Creation of Creative Writing at UEA1 ABSTRACT When did creative writing courses really appear in the UK? The usual story is that the first creative writing programme was launched in 1970 at the University of East Anglia, under the leadership of Malcolm Bradbury. Ian McEwan is often presented as the first student in creative writing, a role he has always rejected – insisting that he studied for an MA in literature with the option to submit creative work for the final dissertation. As Kathryn Holeywell has shown, creative writing was already offered for assessment at UEA in the 1960s. This article tells a more complete history of creative writing in Britain, a history that takes into account the experimentations of the 1960s and the rise of literary prizes in the 1980s – without ignoring Bradbury’s important role. KEYWORDS: Creative writing in literature courses; literary prizes; celebrity; writing communities The story is familiar and goes something like this: in 1970, the young Ian McEwan saw an announcement for a new postgraduate course in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. He gave a call to Professor Malcolm Bradbury, sent a writing sample, and became the first (and only) student of the first MA in creative writing in the UK. McEwan, of course, went on to become one of the most successful British writers of literary fiction. And Bradbury was knighted in 2000, shortly before his death, for his services to literature. This is a good story, which emphasises the extraordinary luck of both McEwan and Bradbury.
    [Show full text]
  • Anderton, Marja Arendina Louise (1994) the Power to Destroy False Images: Eight British Women Writers and Society 1945-1968
    Anderton, Marja Arendina Louise (1994) The power to destroy false images: eight British women writers and society 1945-1968. PhD thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4409/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] THE POWER TO DESTROY FALSE IMAGES: Eight British Women Writers and Society 1945-1968 Marja Arendina Louise Anderton Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology, University of Glasgow February 1994 @M.A.L. Anderton 1994 Acknowledgements As this thesis was written over several years and in a period of great change in my life, I feel that at this pOint I ought to express my gratitude to the people who encouraged me not to give up. First of all, of course, this is my supervisor, Barbara Littlewood, who very kindly helped me wherever she could in spite of the great distance between us for most of the time. Secondly, I would like to thank Iris Murdoch, Penelope Mortimer, A.S. Byatt, and Margaret Drabble for allowing me to use their correspondence here.
    [Show full text]