Good contemporary British writing?
- Thread starter shudder
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jenks
thread death
seconded or should that be thirded
also Maureen Duffy (i can see this turning into an evening where i list all the decent brits on my shelves)
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
After reading Saturday I have lost all patience with McEwan. So safely and cloyingly middle class, middle brow, middle of the road, boring. The guys kids just happen to be an amazing blues guitarist and a talented poet living in Paris?!! Everyone in his book is a doctor or a poet eating picnics of mozzarella, olives and other choice organic foodstuffs.
Gets universal props because he is so safe - the upper-tier Costa Del Sol massive can pick him up from the airport whilst the people who think they are proper intellectuals and literature lovers can read him safely cos he is endorsed in all the broadsheets. He is somehow blockbustery and intellectually safe. He is fast approaching national treasure status.
Amis and Barnes are both MILES better stylists too and a million times more fun. London Fields, Rachel Papers and Metroland are all ten times better than anything McEwan has done.
Gets universal props because he is so safe - the upper-tier Costa Del Sol massive can pick him up from the airport whilst the people who think they are proper intellectuals and literature lovers can read him safely cos he is endorsed in all the broadsheets. He is somehow blockbustery and intellectually safe. He is fast approaching national treasure status.
Amis and Barnes are both MILES better stylists too and a million times more fun. London Fields, Rachel Papers and Metroland are all ten times better than anything McEwan has done.
Yeah, I think that's pretty much where my friend's coming from, and that's pretty much my response to it all. Of course, we come from the weird perspective of Canadian Lit, which is a whole little world unto itself and quite removed from GAN aspirations. In fact, big grand novels by Canadian authors are not appreciated here.
mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
hucks
Your Message Here
Another shout for David Peace. Read and loved The Damned United, and am nearing the end of GB84. His style's a bit brutal and repetetive, but his characters are fantastic. I suppose a book about Brian Clough and another about the miners' strike does fit in with the "parochial little Englander" theme, tho...
I dunno about White Teeth or Autograph Man, but On Beauty is a cracking read imo. The whole thing just struck me as so effortlessly detailed. Probably helped that I read it over a trip to a US college.
Gotta give a shout to Alan Warner for The Sopranos and The Worms Will Carry Me to Heaven as well. Both quality books.
Gotta give a shout to Alan Warner for The Sopranos and The Worms Will Carry Me to Heaven as well. Both quality books.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Right on brother. Total literary pap.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
This sort of criticism sounds suspiciously close to "Oh no, they eat olives, how terrible! Why can't they eat Pod Noodles and Big Macs like real people?". I mean, if you don't like the characters for some specific reason - like you think they make the book boring, unrealistic or reactionary, or whatever your gripe is - that's fair enough, but I think I can detect the familiar whiff of inverted snobbery here...
Not read Howard's End, but I'm guessing On Beauty's a homage rather than a rip-off. Anyhow, the story isn't the important bit for me. As you say, it's the human aspect of the book that's the real draw.
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
They are totally unrealistic. How likely is it that a familly of 4 would contain an expert brain surgeon, a brilliant blues guitarist and some amazing poet? Can't remember what the Mum did? Probably a professor of victorian literature.
I mean there is nothing wrong with stuff being a bit unrealisitc like Amis' Kieth Talent in London Fields or John in Money - they are stinking, ott, entertaining and twisted creatures but then the tone of the book mirrors that.
And his prose really isn't anything special at all. It's so mediocre it doesn't offend anyone and that is the secret of his sucess. The accusations of pretension leveled at Amis and Rushdie could never be aimed at good old Ian. They might come across like arrogant pricks but at least they work the language to good affect and make me smile from time to time. Is there a single funny line in any McEwan book ever??!
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Dunno about funny lines per se, but the end of Amsterdam is quite funny as I remember. Anyway, I'll shut up about him now because it's clear no-one else likes here.
Speaking of humour, though, are talking about funny books here too? Stephen Fry's written some decent comedies, Robert Rankin is perenial favourite of mine (though by no means is it 'proper' literature) and IdleRich lent me Drummond and Manning's The Wild Highway lst year, which frequently had me in fits...
Speaking of humour, though, are talking about funny books here too? Stephen Fry's written some decent comedies, Robert Rankin is perenial favourite of mine (though by no means is it 'proper' literature) and IdleRich lent me Drummond and Manning's The Wild Highway lst year, which frequently had me in fits...
don_quixote
Trent End
hahahaha
people at university argued about 'enduring love' because almost everyone did it as their modern novel in as-level english lit. it's HORRIBLE. the opening chapter is pretty thrilling, but oh-my-god-that-hippy-chapter.
LOVED the damned utd, but i haven't even dared touch any other david peace yet though. whats his face frears is making a film of it isnt he? the one who did the queen. the queen and then brian clough. hahaha old big 'ead.
Jonesy
Wild Horses
I loved Irvine Welsh's 'Trainspotting'. He seems to have got weaker over time and it's difficult not to associate Trainspotting with all the Britpop/Cool Britannia hype of the early-mid 90s. Not that I'd personally link them. I just mean more in terms of the era.
After Welsh I came across Niall Griffiths, whose 'Sheepshagger' & 'Wreckage' are really powerful books. Griffiths writes dialogue in the vernacular of his subjects, working class people in west Wales and Liverpool, but the narrative voice is really poetic.
He also puts the landscapes his characters inhabit to the fore and gives environment the prominence it deserves and that is so often lacking in much fiction. His descriptions of west Wales are really epic and the harshness of nature come through.
After Welsh I came across Niall Griffiths, whose 'Sheepshagger' & 'Wreckage' are really powerful books. Griffiths writes dialogue in the vernacular of his subjects, working class people in west Wales and Liverpool, but the narrative voice is really poetic.
He also puts the landscapes his characters inhabit to the fore and gives environment the prominence it deserves and that is so often lacking in much fiction. His descriptions of west Wales are really epic and the harshness of nature come through.
He seems to tiptoe on the peripheries of contemporary issues, without ever really dealing with them, Its like he's constantly saying to himself 'write about what you know' the whole thing reads like an upper middle class self help leaflet on why not to feel guilty.