EXPERIMENTAL FICTION JEFF NOON Cobralingus
(Codex €9.95) OOOO
COBRALINGU
JEFF NOON
Jeff Noon introduces us to the wonderful world of metamorphiction. a place where language takes on a liquid state of con- SCiousness. With Noon acting as a self-appOinted mixing dubmeister controlling the flow. he channels in a pre— determined text which is not always written by himself. Noon uses linear system terminology gleaned from technology and medicme to move things on. with whole pages looking like an unfinished tripped-out scrapbook. as thOugh they have been com- manded to be drugged. fractured or enhanced in some way.
Noon is determined to drag the novel form kicking and screaming into the 21 st century. and if Cobra/i'ngus is anything to go by he is doing a great job. Arty. playful and maybe a little too earnest. this is a challenging and intelligent work that should be perused by anyone interested in the future of literature.
(Paul Dale)
SHORT STORIES VICTOR PELEVIN
The Blue Lantern (Faber $36.99) .00
Victor Pelevin couldn't be anything else but Russian. He writes with the type of murky imagination and dark humour achieved only by someone born under the hand of a tyrannical existence. He is the king of the Mist in the tail. so much so that you come to expect the un- expected ending whether it actually happens or not. The subjects of his short stones can be as alarming as they can be charming; frequent flashes of dank uneasiness seem strangely at odds With the humour evident through- out. Odd in a fascinating way, The Blue Lantern is
.000. Excellent 0... Good
_ “19139.? 9,.
definitely worth a try. (Eleanor MCGlynn)
METAPHYSIC FICTION DES DILLON The Big 0
(Review £6.99) 0..
When three lads from Coatbridge get a live-in JOb renovating a mona- stery in Cu0uru22u. Italy, you expect the laughs to be broad. And there's no cause to be disappointed. as Davy Doom, Pat and the narrator nail the resident penitent's ball and chain to the floor, flirt with the local factory girls and arm-wrestle Mafia dons in between occaSional bouts of manual labour.
DES DILLORN
‘ i. It.
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But Des Dillon's tale is far more than a work of 18—30'8 juvenilia. Like James Kelman, he cloaks philosophy with slang. and like Alasdair Gray. his prose is disrupted by an imaginative use of typography.
Jimmy Brogan, a con- templative man scarred by an encounter with the Provos into a state of confused amneSia. acts as a powerful absence in the novel. He is eventually made flesh, against a backdrop of sublime natural beauty. in an elating conclusion to a funny and thoughtful book. (James Smart)
TRADITIONAL CRIME P.D. JA
Death In Holy Orders (Faber £17.99) 000
The Grand Dame of the British crime novel is back after a sabbatical and as usual, she does not disappoint. Commander
V 7 Flawed H
Poor
Dalgleish VISIiS the remote East Anglian mini- theocracy of St Anselm's for a nostalgic holiday. only to find himself caught up in one of the most horrific and puzzling cases of his career.
James is as thorough as ever with her amazing penchant for forensic detail. but this is a little overlong and lacking the Crispness of earlier Dalgleish mysteries. Still. good stuff though, and if you’re a PD. devotee you know you're gaing to buy it anyway. (Paul Dalei
PHILOSOPHICAL STORY DAVID LODGE Thinks . . . (Secker & Warburg €16.99)
.0.
Thinks. . . follows the love affair between a widowed novelist turned English literature lecturer and a promiscuous psychology academic. Like everything else about this book. it is essentially an allusion to some philosophical dilemma. DaVid Lodge's apparent obsession with his role as critic and essayist means that. while substantial plot focus is limited to the lovers' affairs, both of them just end up acting as puppets for Lodge's literary theories. Ralph and. somewhat disconcertingly, Helen both speak in Lodge's
singular monotone.
A brilliant essayist. Lodge does express some fascinating opinions through Ralph and Helen’s interactions about religion. art. artificial intelligence. philosophy and even Irvine Welsh. However, considering that the conscious intention of the book seems to be an investigation into the nature of personality within the characters themselves. it's a dis- appointment to discover that the person-ality of David Lodge is all we end up really thinking about. (Olly Lassman) p
books
EVENTS AT BORDERS
FRIDAY 9TH MARCH 6PM
MEIR SCHNEIDER
Internationally known therapist, teacher and founder of the School for Self-Healing in San Francisco will be giving a talk on the Meir Schneider Self-Healing Method.
WEDNESDAY I4TH MARCH 7PM AT THE ARCHES
IN YER FACE ' THEATRE
The most controversial and newworthy plays of British theatre are a rash of rude, viscious and provocative pieces by a brat pack of twentysomethings whose debuts startled critics and audiences with their heady mix of sex, violence and street-poetry. ’ln-Yer-Face Theatre’ is the first book to study this exciting outburst of crative self-expression. Join quthor Aleks Siecz, Andy Arnold (Arches Theatre), Nicola
McCartney (Lookout Theatre) in adiscussion hosted by
The List as part of the Arches Funct Festival.
MONDAY I9TH MARCH 7PM
AN DY DOUGAN
will be discussing the legendary football match in 1942 between a German Luftwaffe team and a local team from occupied Kiev. A true story of courage, team loyalty and fortitude in the face of the most brutal oppression the world had ever seen.
DYNAMO: DEFENDING THE HONOUR OF KIEV
WEDNESDAY 2IST MARCH 7PM
HANIF KUREISHI
will be reading from and discussing his new novel
GABRIEL’S GIFT
LOOK OUT FOR DAVID GEMMELL, STUART DAVID, JAMES ELLROY, IRVINE WELSH, SEBASTIAN FAULKS, 11:9 LAUNCH, NICK HORNBY
BORDERS
98 BUCHANAN STREET, GLASGOW GI 38A TEL: 0141 222 7700
OPENING HOURS: 80m to I Ipm, Monday to Saturday, lOam to 9pm Sunday www.bordersstoi'es.com/stores/283
1—1:”, Mar 2001 THE LIST 93