Book Reviews

Continuing our series of posts marking Mervyn Peake’s centenary, here is a piece written by Peake’s friend, Rodney Ackland, after the former’s untimely death in November 1968. Thit and thefuther by Rodney Ackland, The Spectator, 20th December 1968 Any reader who has once been lost to the world in the stone fields and labyrinths of Gormenghast lies all around us, silent and invisible, yet casting sometimes, from its other dimension, shadows – refractions of darkness and Gormenghast light – which, effecting subtle changes in the shapes, the colours of all familiar things, enhance them with that quality of strangeness lacking which, beauty, as Walter Pater once hinted, is strictly for

As far back as Lucky Jim, if not further, historians and writers of historical fiction have been at each others’ throats. The Historical Writers Association (HWA) was formed in October 2010 with the unique selling point that it is the only historical organisation open to both historians and historical novelists. Other organisations such as the Royal Historical Society and the Historical Association are strictly for writers and teachers of non-fiction. It is obvious that many writers have something to gain here. For many years, historical fiction has been viewed as intellectually unsatisfactory, dependent on the archetypes of sex, fantasy, war or crime mystery to attract readers. Despite several historical novels

It is Mervyn Peake’s centenary this week and there have been parties thrown in his honour across the country. Gormenghast lours over this revelry, as if a still breathing creation has outgrown its dead creator. This seems only natural: Anthony Burgess once described the Gormenghast trilogy as one of the ‘most important works of the imagination to come out of this age’. It is the archetypal cult classic that has obtained a permanent eminence. Yet it was not always so. The books were noticed when first printed, but without ceremony. Indeed, the Spectator did not review a single one of the trilogy when they were released. The magazine reviewed the

As I came to the end of my English degree I applied to several universities for further study on Joseph Conrad, along with UEA for their creative writing programme. Owing to a misunderstanding with my tutor her reference arrived at East Anglia late and I was told my application would be deferred to the following year. Like many graduands I’d enjoyed university, enjoyed my English degree and believed that further study would be every bit as intellectually and socially stimulating. However, over the summer I began to have my doubts. I was going to do a Masters by Research and increasingly realized that being in a strange city, without the

At the end of last month, the British Library signed a deal with Google to digitise 40 million pages from its collection. Today, Tristram Hunt has written a piece in the Guardian welcoming the change, but saying that, when it comes to history, it’s best to dirty your hands in an archive. He has set Twitter-tongues wagging, with critics branding him an intellectual snob and worse. It’s quite a storm; but, Hunt and his detractors seem to be talking at crossed purposes. Hunt is right: I took a History degree and throughout my studies nothing matched pulling on some protective gloves, donning a face mask and digging around in a

Sticky at Christmas, packed in serried rows around a plastic twig in an oval-ended paper-wrapped box with a picture of a camel train; dates in childhood were exotic. The mystery words Deglet Noor were as sweet to roll around the mouth as the fibrous fruit. But we learn from Dates – A Global History by Nawal Nasrallah (Reaktion Books, £9.99) that they are a staple food, comparable to wheat, potatoes and rice. The Edible Series focuses on one foodstuff per book. The result can be like an answer in a Chinese exam where everything known is written down, here in a prose style reminiscent of Wikipedia. Fortunately, pictures are a

Fay Maschler has written the Bookends column in this week’s magazine. Here it is for readers of this blog. Sticky at Christmas, packed in serried rows around a plastic twig in an oval-ended paper-wrapped box with a picture of a camel train; dates in childhood were exotic. The mystery words Deglet Noor were as sweet to roll around the mouth as the fibrous fruit. But we learn from Dates – A Global History by Nawal Nasrallah that they are a staple food, comparable to wheat, potatoes and rice. The Edible Series focuses on one foodstuff per book. The result can be like an answer in a Chinese exam where everything