Reviews
FAIRY TALES
ANGELA CARTER (ED) Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales
(Virago) COO.
The late Angela Carter occupied a unique position in post-war British fiction. No writer before or since has fused magical realism, Gothic horror fantasy, graphic violence and sex so luridly or so powerfully. She once said ‘a good writer can make you believe time stands still‘ and, in novels such as The Magic Toyshop or Night at the Circus, she did indeed fuse the universality of
fables with contemporary themes to stunning effect.
Ironically for a writer who created such unrestrained fantasies from unashamedly purple prose, it is the brevity of Carter’s short fiction in collections such as The Bloody Chamber and Fireworks that has always packed the fiercest punch. In the compelling introduction to this repackaged compendium of the two volumes Carter edited for Virago shortly before her death in 1992, the author outlines her fascination with traditional fairy tales and folklore as a means of understanding the present. She alludes to the post-modern preoccupation with knowingly created collages from bits and pieces of past influences. ‘It is a characteristic of every age to believe that it
is unique, that our experience will obliterate everything that has gone before.’
Here, she determinedly looks beyond the familiar European fables (though many of those are here too) that she has mined from the storytelling cultures of Africa, Asia and Latin America to create a truly comprehensive range of tales. Reading through the selection of funny, at times feral, stories is a delicious reminder that fairytales aren’t meant just for children.
(Allan Radcliffe)
POL lRY COLLEC l lON MARK HADDON The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea (Picador) 000
His agent and publishers must have bricked themselves. Eollowmg tip the colossal success of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night lime With a first book of
poetry takes some balls.
but that's exactly what Mark Haddon's gone
and done. Aild while it probably won't shift in massive numbers. it's
certainly a diveise and oddly touching collection of work.
Sly and sell) deprecating humour threads through the
poems here. most eVIdent 0n ‘lhis Poem is Certificate 18'. but links many light-hearted yet intelligent pieces together. 'l here is no great lyrical shoWIness. rather a tempered rhythm and pace which is easy on the eye and ear. letting the imagery seep through the cracks. There are moments of real poignant depth as well. like in the desperate. despairing snapshot ‘Black', or the quiet wonder of ‘A Tally Stick'. A writer of
eclectic tastes and talents. Haddon has just added yet another string to his bow.
(Doug Johnstone)
COLLECTED COLUMNS GUY BROWNING Never Push When It Says Pull
(Atlantic) 0000
Guy Browning's 'How to
.‘ column in The Guardian has been keeping us straight for years. Sterling adVice is proffered on a weekly ba8is With his blend of astute observation and comic penmanship always making Browning a mirthful read: this dinky collection of 100 columns has 'Christmas present' stamped all over it.
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Browning knows his subject (us) and by highlighting the more flawed side of human nature. manages to pull us together in a fellowship of humiliation and inadequacy. Reading 'How to . . . my. 'How to . . . change the duvet' or ‘How to . . . take medicine'. it's easy to start wondering if Browning has been folloWing you around as you blunder through life. The only confusion lies in when to read this book and for how long (too much of a good thing etc). Clearly Browning needs to write a “How to . . . read a collection of my columns' column.
(Kelly Apter)
COMIC REFERENCE LYNNE TRUSS Talk to the Hand (Profile) 0...
Following on from Eats. Shoots & Leaves. her excellent book/moan about punctuation, writer and broadcaster Lynne lruss now takes ()ll tliie satattte ()f ()Lll manners. She has many converging and well upholstered opinions on politeness but her
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underlying need to delve into this subject comes from a belief that ‘just as the loss of punctuation signalled the vast and under-acknowledged problem of illiteracy. so the collapse of manners stands for the vast and under acknowledged problem of social immorality'.
It all sounds horribly Daily Mail and middle England. but over five beautifully pitched essays/chapters this very gifted and funny columnist delivers an undeniable catalogue of reason and lateral thinking on the issue. Like George Bernard Shaw before her. she points out that ‘if you Will only take the trouble to always do the perfectly correct thing. and to say the perfectly correct thing. you can do just what you like'. An interesting f0ible. (Paul Dale)
LllERARY l‘RlBUlE SIMON WARNER
Howl for Now (Route) .00
'Hold back the edges of your gowns. ladies. we are gouig through hell.' So counselled Allen Ginsberg's friend and mentor William Carlos Williams in the original introduction to Howl. But what made Ginsberg‘s poem so incendiary as to bring about prosecution. international acclaim and a lasting influence on the counter Culture? Well. this is the musing p0int for several
thinkers who contribute to this collection and. although they all have their angles. I prefer to return to the source. It's energetic. funny. lucid. occasionally lost in the wind. but ultimately a spectacular piece of invective that inspired not merely a generation but each subsequent wave of dreamers and dilettantes. It was a work that also introduced his pals Kerouac and Burroughs and therefore kicked off the 20th century proper. OK. other stuff may have occurred pre 1955 atom bombs. revolutions. EIVIs Presley —- but the Beats comed the language of cool and we're still speaking it today. (Rodger Evans)
ALSO PUBLISHED
Michael Oonaghy (ed) 707 Poems About Childhood Everyone from Shakespeare and Blake to Tennyson. Paul Muldoon and Kate Clanchy get in on the act with this collection edited by the New York writer who died last year. Faber.
Mark Oxbrow & Ian Robertson Ross/yn and the Grail After a decade of heavy research, this pair of historians reveal the true story of the chapel which has somehow brought together Merlin, the Virgin Mary and Robert the Bruce. Mainstream. Chris Tarrant Tarrant on Top of the World: In Search of the Polar Bear So, you‘re saying you really want this for Christmas? Is that your final answer? The ever smiling chap goes in pursuit of some cuddly predators. Weidenfeld & Nico/son.
Andrew Delbanco Melville: His World and Work An epic story of a big man as ‘America's best social critic' traces Herman's monster path from young seaman to spiritual chronicler. Picador.
17 Nov 1 Dec 7.005) THE LIST 31