l_ca me away with any feeling of
achiev etnent or satisfaction.‘ A constant criticism levelled at war photographers is that they do more
' harm than good. By their tnere
' presence they provoke atrocities.
j Naturally. McCullin has first hand ' experienceofthis.
'ln Bangladesh. in the Dacca
' Sports Stadium.opponentsofthe
regime were systematically tortured
j and bayoneted in front ofthe world‘s
press. Some noble members ofthe group in the stadium that day had the presence of mind and the decency to walk away because they felt they were particiyuiting in the misery of these unfortunate men. ()thers stayed behind and won Pulitzer l’ri/es.‘
ls that an example of the photographer’s subconscious drive to keep taking pictures'.’
‘l don’t think that it‘s \lll‘L‘UliSk'lUllS. l think illitl \(tlitc‘ photographers get carried away. period. l was watching an execution
‘ one morning in Saigon where a guy
w ho w as not a photographer but was a l’ttlil/e! l’t'i/e winning writer was saying "( ire‘it Stuff? liid youget it‘,’”, l was stunned, llc snatched up
‘ the carrier a and thought it was a
Honan/a l tiitllil take any
pltoli igt aplts that day .'
It is that kind of sensitivity that has earned \lcfullin respect among both his peers and the public. llis images are brutal and haunting. bttt in a retrospective of his work at The \' t\' -\. they were also considered as
at laskcd this most moral man whether this was not an amoral situation.
‘Wc showed the pictures to 45.000 people. I agree. a museum is not the right place for those images. ()n the other hand. other than going in that museum they would lie dormant in a filing cabinet. And may be amongst those 45.000 people there would be a do/ett or a hundred who were provoked to say “We can try to chattge the world a bit".
‘lt's wrong to treat war photos as art and that's one of the reasons why l have switched to landscape photography and still life. lean do that without having to consider whether they should be in a museum.
. Of course they should. 'l'hey‘re not 5 tarnished by the sacrificeof people in f the ptctures.‘
.'\lc(‘ullin gave up going to the war zones in NS} after an escape from an fil Salvadorian death squad which left his right arm shattered. llis landscapes have the same disconcerting darkness that was his trademark as a war photograper. ls this merely a personal style or something tnore — a state ofmind'.’
"l'he pictures are printed dark as a part of a tnorose type of thinking. I like dark images. they have a meaning to me. if you look at the old
masters they're dark. but that‘s
because of time and the amount of
cleaning that they‘ve had. Maybe my
mind will have to be cleaned up a bit
l before I can take lighter pictures.‘
l
Don .llc( ‘u/lin 's autohiography.
l.'nreasonaln’e Behaviour. is published by Jonathan ('ape at
115,99.
32 'l lie l.l\l .jltf )clitltct' b \it\ ctlll‘c‘r l‘mll
Tons
BOOKS
suonr AND SWEET
j I Get Shorty L‘lmore Leonard
(Viking £13.99) Praising Elmore Leonard is like buying tnore central London properties for the Duke of Westminster — it would be neither
I noticed nor needed. such is the
crime-writer‘s pre-eminence. not only within his ow n genre. but increasingly within modern writing in [English as a whole. if there are one or two moments in (Jet Shorty
which don't quite come off. the
novel's overall quality. its elegant structure. range ofcharacters and. above all. the dialogue. combine to rank this right up there with Leonard’s best.
Opening in Miami. the author’s favourite location lately. (Jet Shorty quickly tnoves first to Las Vegas. where Florida loanshark (‘hili l’alme r tracks down an insurance f'raudster. and then to l lollywood. As (’hili tries to muscle in on the movie industry. other Miami mobsters tnove west. intent on paying him back for previous misdemeanours. Not only does Palmer take death threats in his
stride. they are all grist to his creative
mill. as he is happy to turn all his own experiences into a film script which. aided by a semi-retired actress and her hopeless horror-film producer sidekick. he aims to flog to a major studio.
It's a more romantic. even light-hearted work than tnost of Leonard. a fact which gives him greater scope than usual for character development and even comedy. Like Scorsese's filrn Mean Streets. (iet Shorty is fttll of gangsters who learn how to behave by imitating tnovic gangsters: where once art apcd reality (so many early gangster films used (‘apone as a role-model ). reality now imitates art. 'l‘he grace with which Leonard conveys the clumsiness of these thugs is a joy to read: he must be one of the few authors who can make one chuckle. not at punch-linesor witticisms. but simply with open-mouthed admiration at the artistry ofhis prose.
('urrently too commercially successfttl to be considered as great literature by the obscurantist arbitersof taste. Leonard's work. once sanctified by the passage of time. will be recognised as at least equal to Chandler's. But why postpone pleasure ‘.’ (iet Shorty today. (Stuart Bathgatc)
Kills/tot, last year's new Leonard. has just been published in Penguin paperback. priced [3 . ()9.
LAZY DROSS
I Lady 8088 Jackie ('ollins (lleinemann £14.99) From the lurid dust-jacket to the predictable plot. meretricious is the word. Lucky Santangelo. the Lady Boss of the title. reigns supreme in a world
FICTION
Public lives
Wot, no Gazza? Not even a respectful space for the world's greatest living Englishman in between Gascoigne, George, 16th century poet and dramatist, pursued for debt, imprisoned by the Spaniards, settled in Walthamstow (not far from White Hart Lane) and Gaskell, Mrs, novelist born in Chelsea, well-adjusted and beautiful. The less well-adjusted and beautiful George Best does find a space, rather appropriately trapped between a physiologist and an aeronautics expert.
it’s easy to be charitable and forgive the Chambers Biographicai Dictionary its omissions, when they offer other delicious titbits such as the fact that Kenny Dalglish’s middle name is Mathieson, and that only one famous European in the last 2000 years has had a name beginning with X.
This, the fifth edition, attempts to broaden the international choice, and give greater prominence to 20th century figures, focusing more attention on art, business, film, media, politics, sport and theatre. Thus Johann Cruyff rubs shoulders with 18th century Hungarian dramatist Gregor Csiky, and John Marwood Cleese with Greek Stoic philosopherCieanthes. it‘s a smart move, although limited space means the dictionary often fails to tell you much more about an entry than the
bare bones of their lives.
The Dictionary is obviously mainly for use as a reference, but lovers of trivia will find it difficult to escape after a casual browse. It also helps to fill in gaps forthe woefully ignorant. l, for one, never realised that Shirley Williams is the daughter of Vera Britfain. Half the fun is arguing about who should have made it in. For instance, Kenneth Williams is there, but not the legendary Sid James or Barbara Windsor (the Duchess of Windsor makes it). They would have elicited many a cheap filter from William Crotch (English composer 1775—1847). (Tom Lappin) Chambers Biographical Dictionary is edited by Magnus Magnusson (£30).
populated by people with amazing names like (irudge l-‘t'ecport and ('ooper'l‘ut'ner. 'l'he family motto. ‘l)on‘t fttck with a Santangclo‘
(translated from the l.atin'.' ). is stated
at the outset. and of course. despite some nasty opposition. Lucky comes good in the end i ftiurr l'nurr ).
(’ollins strikes an unconvincing blow for feminism through the principles of lucky . and Madonna
replica. Venus Maria. \ enus declares
that in the movies women do w attt to see ‘some poor sehmuck with his schnicklc hangingout‘ (pure
poetry? ). and lucky 'has the balls’ to tell .lohnny Romero that his movie
.llother/itker is ‘a sexist piece of crap.
It all seems like standard (‘ollins fare. but who buys this stuff in hardback"? ( Richard ( ioslant
FLACCID QUEEN
I Dueendom Come lillcn ( iilllttl'tl
target. the weapon must be razor-sharp. and this short noy el is as blunt asa [)oc .‘ylartcn's toe. without the steel-capped reinforcement,
A surreal tale of feminine pow er struggles. Queendom ( 'orne is more slapstick than satire: its clumsiness dulling any effects of a largely self-conscious wit. Selina contemporary Scotland clatnpcd by the bloody jaw-sol a 'l'hateherite rule epitomised by the Sexual Normality
l
and Official \‘icwpoints Acts. the book is a flaccid fantasy ofsweet revenge. Albanna. a fiercely endearing Dawn french of ancient times. snubs the prospect ofeternal death to return to her quecndont. now the seat of a middle-aged upstart with motnirehical aspirations. With the grudging help of her lesbian High Priestess ( iw hyldis. she tnttst deliver be r people from the evil which stalks Scotland in queenic heels.
.\lthough wrestling awkwardly with the most radical political preoeeupations of the last fifteen years. ( ialford hits the hammer with the nail. rather than the reverse. lntent upon her satirical tool. she is like a learner driver in comparison to her mentors Swift and Pope. and. lacking the foresight olflleanette \\'intcrson. leans too heavily upon the all too familiar realities ofstudent loans and the poll tax for shock effect. :\s such. for all the book's good
(vii-ugh ttwi lflhatclter is to se- the i “W” ““Wlm‘ “‘“mm” “l”
doubtless remain unbuffetted. (Kathleen Morgan)
POPE ON A ROPE
I Redemption lariq Ali ((‘hatto & Windus {13.09) ‘What a world we live in. ch‘.’ Within a few days (‘eausescu is executed and the Pope pisses on Il‘lC White l louse. ch'." [Ezra Einstein. maverick 'l'rotskyist. witnesses these events on television. sparking offhis