To mark the BBC adaptation Miéville's The City & the City, here's a quick run-down of his oeuvre so far. All opinions my own. The City & The City. If one definition of great art is that it changes the way you view the world, then this is great art. Inspector Tyador Borlú investigates a … Continue reading A China Miéville top 10
Changing Track, described on the blurb as "at once experimental and engrossing", was originally published by Calder Books in 1958 as "Second Thoughts" and has long been out of print in English. Alma Books have relaunched the Calder imprint1 with this, and other works from the Calder backlist are to follow later in the year. … Continue reading Review: “Changing Track” by Michel Butor
It's a good start to the year for fans of mid-century experimental fiction. Alma have reprinted Michel Butor's Changing Track, and now And Other Stories have gathered these short pieces and fragments by Ann Quin. Quin, who drowned off Brighton beach in 1973 aged 36, has long been a cult figure. She was one of … Continue reading Review: “The Unmapped Country” by Ann Quin
In my previous post I wrote about nostalgia and the loss of contiguity that can trigger it. There are books, though, that I have always had: every house move has seen them boxed, shifted and unpacked; and, in time, re-read. For these books, each re-reading reveals new aspects: a form of anti- or a-nostalgia. One … Continue reading All change: Jan Mark’s “Thunder and Lightnings” (1976)
Moving the action of a European or Asian film to America when Hollywood remakes it is not unusual. Moving the location of a European novel to America when translated into English, however, is. Published in English in 2016, HEX is the story of the small New England town (where have we heard this before?) of … Continue reading Relocated in translation: “HEX” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
I don't intend to write often about music on this blog, but a recent Guardian article reminded me that a group of albums that I love are approaching their quarter-century. Given that they transformed my musical tastes, I thought it worth revisiting them and the effect they had on me. Also, in an era where … Continue reading Warp Records’ “Artificial Intelligence” series, 25 years on
Into the Gyre 