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N/‘ti UN S'LLW ANGUS CALDER Scotlands of the Mind
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up to the Saltire avi/ard winning The Lantern Bearers again explores the tension betx'xeen art and love. As in that earlier noye'. Frames protagonist. Filidh. is in love with an artist. the posthumously celebrated painter Colin Brogan. xvi/hose ambiguous personal motiyations are not fully t't)‘.’(3£tl(3(l unt:| his premature death. Relating the story 0 their life together from the vantage point of old age. F-ilrdn gradually opens up her own complex character. \.'.’l‘.lf(} the exduisrte (l()§3(2l'lt)ll()llf3 of Brogan's pa:nt:ngs speak voluntes abotit the artist
lr‘. the course of his
story. l "ante tackles incest. aduitery. ‘.’l()l(}'ll deaths. rlisappointment and grief. t rough not in a sens; t:ona' fashion, rather in prose that is
t.prcal!‘.’ understated
and gt:"tly rical frame
. ,\i,'.i JOHN LANCHESTER Fragrant Harbour lauei chairs .0.
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.'.’(:l r;'at.r::i and tlrctightful work. ano it's apt since the r‘irr.»::i's reall. ll‘ftlfi g imut llong Kong than any of the four
intertwined rues tlzat l anchester depicts.
Spank-rig years. fragrant Harbor/I is an ambitious .‘.’<)l'i\'. and one tlta‘. has many redeeming features. but it's a hook let fft)‘.'.’ll If, 'fs tor, sided structure. Dawn Stone is an
lngl.sh gournalist heading out to l long Kong: hotei proprietor loiii E‘Ste'.'.'art made the fStllllt‘ trip so years
preuroiisl.’: Sister Maria is a (Iniirese nun and Matthew Ho
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3: or; flying off the shelves this summer. the title refers ti: l tong Kong. the setting for much of this
becomes embroiled in a mess of gang warfare. political corruption and personal turmoil as the tensions be ween rival factions escalate.
Any debut novelist with the brass neck to produce such an inventive political satire out of the feline world is worth at least a look. Luckity. Smith writes With Wit and energy. creating a memorable brood of characters. and skilfully building the sense of unease between sides as the action /eroes to\.i'i./arc,ls its bloodthirsty conclusron. (Allétl‘. Radcliffe,
is particularly adept at conveying repressed emotion and. in this moVing and povi/erful tale. brilliantly evokes the profound loneliness and frustration that can be experienced within a relationship.
iAllan Radcliffe)
POLlTlCAl SAl IRE NICK SMITH Milk Treading iLuath Press $39.99 000.
MID Lll'l,‘ SATIRE; JOHN HARDING While the Sun Shines iBlack Sta/an 576.9% 0...
Milk Treading
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In the age-oid debate of cat versus dogs. come down on the side of slobbering mutts over (IO‘JIOUS felines every time. Nick Smith's political satire is less partisan in -ts sympathies. ll‘ a hybrid of P/anef of the Cats and Gary l..arsor"s Fa." Side cartoons. Smih creates a futuristic apartheid city ruled by a minority of evolved cats. in which dogs. considered an inferior species. are (I()llfl"(}(l to slum ghettos. Protagonist Julius Kyle. a retired thriller ‘.'.'f'll(}l.
HARDIN‘
Wilfrid. firm; Sun Shmfls
The sun isn't shining on Professor Michael Cole. A iifetime of drug taking. student seducng and work evasion has taken its toll. ICOIOI‘HIQ on the brink of his 5()th birthday. the university
ohn Lanchester
.<‘ rook dea. ‘.'.'lli(:l‘ brought us last year's
‘ “the.” ' 7" WM. M"
All four stories we iiitfolded neatly. but 1 anchester comes ._. arttleunsttmzkasPeatteinptstolii‘ktheni. ()ftrieft>tii'. the ' J“ i
up lltt: :argest part. In fact. you can't help feeling that it suctild itagr: made a better noxel to stick with this story aiming rather thai‘. r‘a'n tistedl‘, trying to bolt on the rest in
‘tSieJxa't :storj, 5; ti, far the most engaging and makes
igit I“, an interest 'ig tart flax/ed novel -[)ot.g tJohiistone~
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V» ‘ il Well-crafted but lop-sided
lecturer is forced to take stock of his life when he becomes embroiled in a blackmail scam by a former conguest. His career. marriage and physical health all hang in the balance. any one of those able to tip him over the edge.
A convoluted storyline in itself. only Harding stretches the imagination furtl'ter by introducing ghosts of dead relatives and troubled childhood rnemor;es. The leap of fartlt tr‘is demands of the reader is a step too far. While it does provrde comic relief from the mane chaos of Cole's life. it doesn't hear on the story significantly enough to register. That said. Harding's storytelling is a (lth’ttl‘Z 're creates humour and pathos in the most tirrlikely of situations. And. loosely mirroring tae tile of poet John DOlll‘O. the literary merit alone is \‘rorthy of praise. iMaureen Ellisi
FILM THEORY JACK SARGEANT Naked Lens: Beat
Cinema rCreation SI. 1 4.95i O...
I I I -. I I '5 I
BEAT CINEMA
Ignore the nasty cheesy cover and inside this (BXCOlzofIt text book you will find a yery serious treatise ()l‘ this most influential of c nematic forms.
Beat cinema was an off-shoot o‘ the liter'atti'e moyemer‘t that was kicked into proii‘:ne'tce in the late ~1C's and 130s >y Kerotiac's Or: the Head and Ginsl)er'g'sst:1l remarkable poem ‘llcwl'. Its main proponents in and out at that period were Robert Frar‘k. Jonas Mekas. John Cassayettes and Andy Warhol. l'r sl‘ort. true gods of cii‘errra. But eyeryone had a go.
from Bukotzsk' to