nigeyb's world of joy

Norman Collins 'London Belongs To Me'

I’d just finished reading five novels by Patrick Hamilton (Hangover Square, The Slaves Of Solitude, and the Gorse Trilogy); a biography of Patrick Hamilton (Through a Glass Darkly: The Life of Patrick Hamilton); and a biography of Julian MacLaren-Ross (Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia: The Bizarre Life of Julian Maclaren-Ross). Reading these books helped me to realise how much I enjoy books about London. Coincidentally Amazon recommended this book to me (and it was a book that I’d not heard of until the recommendation).

Over 700 pages long, London is unquestionably the star of the book. More specifically South London for the inhabitants of a shared house located at 10 Dulcimer Street in Kennington. The book is set in 1939-40 and evokes the era wonderfully. The second world war looms as each of the varied and memorable characters contend with their own lives and preoccupations. Their stories are variously funny, tragic, exciting, interesting, and the interweaving narratives kept me engrossed throughout.

If you enjoy well written stories about London, about Britain in the 1940s, and the vagaries of human nature, then it’s hard to imagine you wouldn’t enjoy this book. By the end I felt the characters were old friends and I wanted to continue to read about their lives. In a nutshell, I loved it and didn’t want it to end.

Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia by Paul Willetts

Absolutely loving this biography of the English writer and dandy, Julian Maclaren-Ross (1912-64).  

Although synonymous with the bohemian world of mid-twentieth-century Soho along with Dylan Thomas, Quentin Crisp, John Minton, Nina Hamnett, Joan Wyndham, Aleister Crowley, John Deakin, Augustus John, Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde and so on, this book is full of much, much more. Yes, Maclaren-Ross is far more than just another sharp-eyed, literary bar-fly. During his lifetime he produced a substantial, astonishingly diverse body of writing which broke new ground in many genres. As an occasional film essayist, his writing about Alfred Hitchcock and film noir was well ahead of its time. As a short story writer and novelist, he introduced a new, vernacular, Americanised style to English fiction. As a writer of reportage, he anticipated Hunter S. Thomspon, Tom Wolfe and the other American ‘New Journalists’ of the 1960s. As a literary critic, he wrote with rare acuity about the writers as varied as Georges Simenon, Raymond Chandler, John Buchan, Frank Harris, Jean Cocteau, M.P. Sheil, Dashiell Hammett and Henry Green. As a memoirist, he was a forerunner of so many current writers who work in a similarly delicate, novelistic vein. As a literary parodist, he was praised by William Faulkner and P.G. Wodehouse. As a translator, he was very sensitive to stylistic nuances. 

His work was admired by Evelyn Waugh, John Betjeman, Elizabeth Bowen, Graham Greene, Cyril Connolly, Anthony Powell, Olivia Manning, John Lehmann, Lucian Freud and others. Since his premature death at the age of only fifty-two, he has become a cult favourite among fellow writers such as Harold Pinter, Michael Holroyd, John King, Iain Sinclair, Jonathan Meades, Chris Petit, D.J. Taylor and Virginia Ironside. His reputation has also been kept alive through the campaigning of groups such as the Lost Club and the Sohemian Society. 

I’m about a third of the way through, and WW2 has just started.  A fascinating read.  I’ve ordered three of his books off the back of this great biography.

It’s a great follow up to the five Patrick Hamilton novels and PH biography that I’ve completed over the last few weeks.

Brian Epstein Died For You on Flickr.

A wonderful double header at the Hayward Gallery. Jeremy Deller “Joy In People” / David Shrigley “Brain Activity”. Both were excellent. I admire Jeremy Deller and was very keen to catch this exhibition. It was great. David Shrigley was fab too. Alas no photography in the exhibition so I aside from a pin badge and the brochure I have not much else to show.

The Genius of Jeremy Deller

I’ve just watched the recent Culture Show programme on Jeremy Deller.  I’ve enjoyed a few of his creations without realising who was responsible.  He is a genius.  A word that gets bandied about far too much, however in the case of JD I stand by the assessment.  Not only that he is a true people’s artist.  

For the next four days people in the UK can watch the Culture Show special - Jeremy Deller: MIddle Class Hero on iPlayer.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Here’s a list of his projects.

Some personal faves include:

• Our Hobby Is Depeche Mode
• Acid Brass
• The Football Hooligan calling cards as party invites
• The Battle of Orgreave recreation
• The Folk Archive

I’m going to the exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in a couple of weeks.  I can’t wait.