JUST PUBLISHED
o The Best of HM. Bateman (Bodley Head £5.95) Bateman’s cartoons for The Tailer in the Twenties and Thirties specialised in ridiculing the mindless etiquette religiously observed by the hoi polloi. Hot irony was his trademark and it’s particularly effective in the delinquent ‘Man Who’ series in which the perverse of untutored step out of order by lighting a cigar before the Royal Toast or asking for a second helping at a city company dinner. But even today when social niceties are flouted rather than flaunted the cartoons still retain their bite and topicality. Ifyou doubt try imitating ‘The girl who ordered a glass ofmilk at the Cafe Royal’.
0 Pandemonium HumphreyJennings (Picador £3.95) A magnificent scrapbook chockful of gleanings from contemporary sources (letters, poems, diaries, novels, reports) evoking the onset of the machine age.
0 Mowgli's Sons Hugh Brogan (Cape £5.95) Subtitled ‘Kipling and Baden-Powell’s Scouts‘ this elegant essay assumes much and says little in charting the exceedingly accommodating poet’s connection with the khaki-clad lads, though it does give his sound advice on how to howl.
0 An Autobiography and The Marionette Edwin Muir (Hogarth Press £5.95 and £4.95) Published to coincide with the 100th anniversary ofthe birth of the celebrated Orcadian poet and translator of Kafka. Muir, as The Marionette shows, never mastered the novel but not because he couldn’t handle prose. His Autobiography though overwhelmingly depressing is a model of clarity, contrasting the Edenic innocence of his youth in a rural community with the naked ambition of the sordid, squalid cities. Highly recommended.
0 Its Colours They Are Fine Alan Spence (Corgi £2.50) Originally compared to Joyce‘s Dubliners these
BACK LIST
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interlocking stories by Edinburgh’s current writer-in-residence bring starkly and unsentimentally to life a
young boy’s life amid the Gorbals’ closes and puddles and surrounded by bigotry. Tip-top.
REVIEWS
0 The March of the Long Shadows Norman Lewis (Seeker and Warburg £10.95) An impoverished nation at the best oftimes, Sicily was left crippled in the wake of World War II. Its spirit, however, was uncrushed, and revolt began to stir in the mountains as its people dreamt of freeing themselves from centuries of foreign domination and feudal subjugation.
Sent by British Intelligence to report on the situation is John Phillips, unruffled agent, who gleans all he needs to know from a handful of eccentric friends and spends the rest of his time watching life from a cafe table. While American journalists and the Italian army converge on the centre of revolution in anticipation of a bloody climax, the rebels have already begun to divide under the pressure ofwaning support, optimism and cash. The showdown, when it occurs, is nothing short of farcical but, suitably rewritten, makes back-page news at least. .
With deft, economical sketches, Lewis presents a rich cameo of the period and its people. In their idiosyncracy and charm, his characters encapsulate the island - its paradoxes, fatalism and deep-rooted self-interest. Vivid figures flit through the pages, like Crispi, old, ugly and poor, with a weakness for chasing nubile talent; Dr Moscato the museum curator, who laces his drinks with preserving fluid; and Phillips’ mistress the Marchesina, an ageless aristocrat whose virginity has, to date, been restored three times.
March of the Long Shadows is not a gripping thriller, nor a tale of quick-biting suspense or hectic
action, but more a contemplation of events, an ironic appraisal and occasionally lyrical description of a country that, once experienced, is etched on the memory.
(Rosemary Goring)
0 Women and the AIDS Crisis Diane Richardson (Pandora £3.95) AIDS is like a chain-letter. It spreads indiscriminately, it is unwanted and the only way to stop it is to break the chain. And breaking the chain means changing habits and taking a stand — to protect yourself. Diane Richardson’s new book is unique, for it scrutinises the impact of AIDS on women.
‘Yes,’ she agreed, ‘there are relatively few cases ofAIDS in women. But in the States, the trend is on the upwards. The latest figures for Britain indicate that 24 women have been found to have AIDS to date. That is not the real figure. The one you have to take account of is this— there are between 50 and 100 times that who are unwittingly carrying the virus. In Scotland 27% of those with AIDS are women. Women must protect themselves and to do this they must assert themselves. It’s difficult because we live in a sexually coercive society —
there are a lot of pressures put on us to have sex, to have intercourse.’ Diane Richardson is keen to offer practical advice. ‘I think many women will quickly grasp the facts about AIDS. The big problem after that is using the knowledge. Embarrassment about discussing safer sex and condoms with a partner should be overcome. Many men object to using condoms because they have out—dated ideas about them. And they will object even if they have never actually used one. But ifa man doesn‘t care about his own health, never mind yours, he‘s not worth knowing.’ How To Protect Yourseli Broach the subject with a prospective partner: ask him what he thinks about AIDS and the AIDS campaign. If he is not concerned about it and about taking precautions, don’t bother with him (unless you can convince him that it is important to be responsible).
Precautions (none are 100% saie) Use a condom and a water-based spermicide (oil-based ones weaken the rubber) ifyou are going to have intercourse. Ifyou don‘t have any or your partner refuses to wear one, don’t have intercourse.
FIRST OF
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The List 15 — 28 May 47