He saw the world’s cruel absurdities through a comic lens, writes Boyd, who recalls his very first meeting with Amis – and explains why his unmistakable voice will never be forgotten• John Self on Amis: ‘He stamped his style over a generation’• Geoff Dyer on Amis: ‘Mick Jagger in literary form’The awful news of Martin Amis’s death prompts a rush of memories. I first met him in 1969, in Paris, when we both found ourselves staying in the same apartment on the Île Saint-Louis for a few days. I was 17, Martin was 20. I only realised who this Martin guy was four years later when his first novel, The Rachel Papers, appeared. In a strange but real sense, he was the first writer I had ever met. And thus began an acquaintance as an avid reader and later as a friend.The remarkable thing about that first novel was the utter confidence and distinctiveness of the narrative voice. Martin found his style at the very beginning of his career as a writer and it never changed. That voice he had defined and charged everything else he wrote – fiction, essays, journalism, memoirs. Very few writers can be instantly identified by a sentence or two of their prose – Laurence Sterne, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Vladimir Nabokov – and Martin precociously joined that elite group and stayed there. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 07:00:49 UTC ]
He saw the world’s cruel absurdities through a comic lens, writes Boyd, who recalls his very first meeting with Amis – and explains why his unmistakable voice will never be forgotten• John Self on Amis: ‘He stamped his style over a generation’• Geoff Dyer on Amis: ‘Mick Jagger in literary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 07:00:49 UTC ]
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Some in the book industry have already begun exploring automation of its pitches to readers. We took this functionality for a test drive“Blurb writing is a mini art form,” Iris Murdoch once wrote in a letter to former Penguin blurb writer Elizabeth Buchan. And like many other art forms,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-16 09:00:05 UTC ]
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The book is often described as the world’s first novel and a touchstone of Japanese literature. But some of its themes, including its take on gender and power, have echoed over centuries. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-04-15 09:00:33 UTC ]
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The journal’s once-in-a-decade selection of the best fiction writers under 40 has broadened its selection of 20 to include authors who ‘regard the UK as their home’Granta magazine’s Best of British Novelists list, which hails the literary stars of the future, has this year expanded to include... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-13 07:00:37 UTC ]
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The following first appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. One day, in the midst of working on my first novel in English, I was overwhelmed by a wave of frustration with my adopted language. With some fury, I knocked this out on the page and decided not to translate... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-10 12:51:04 UTC ]
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If the literary landscape of the early twentieth century, at least when it comes to short stories, is dominated by Anglophone writers like Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, then the mid-twentieth century arguably belongs to the Latin American writers who helped to move the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-05 18:00:38 UTC ]
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It’s true: a new Haruki Murakami novel—his first since 2017’s Killing Commendatore—will be published on April 13th . . . but only in Japan. Sorry to tease you, English-speaking readers! Still, not to fret: I’m sure this means that translations are forthcoming. In the meantime, here’s everything... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-02 15:32:49 UTC ]
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A haunting horror novel set a century ago in the American West, Eleanor Catton’s first novel in a decade, a Ukrainian war diary and much more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-03-01 10:00:54 UTC ]
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As the winner of the second annual Books Like Us First Novel Prize, Dorabji will receive a $50,000 book deal with Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-23 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree and Center for Fiction and VCU Cabell First Novel prize finalist Lydia Kiesling’s second novel, Mobility, which this August will be the first book to be published on the new imprint from Crooked Media,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-13 16:01:46 UTC ]
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“Essex Dogs,” the first novel in a projected trilogy by the historian Dan Jones, imagines a hard-bitten band of mercenaries hired to invade France on behalf of their English king. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-03 10:00:06 UTC ]
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Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew talks to River Sing Me Home author Eleanor Shearer about her hotly... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-01 09:53:21 UTC ]
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Jesmyn Ward's next novel, LET US DESCEND, will be published on October 3, 2023. It's her first novel since SING, UNBURIED, SING. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-28 01:23:42 UTC ]
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Lovers of gorgeous prose and ghost-soaked literary fiction rejoice: two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward’s next novel officially has a release date. Let Us Descend, Ward’s first novel in five years (since 2017’s Sing, Unburied Sing) will be published by Scribner on October 3. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-27 15:09:45 UTC ]
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The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy’s first novel since The Road in 2006, shows him at the peak of his powers even as he nears his ninetieth year. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2022-11-24 13:19:55 UTC ]
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Author of the Inspector Alan Banks series and welcome presence at crime fiction festivals around the worldPeter Robinson was the creator of the immensely popular Inspector Alan Banks crime series, set in Yorkshire – the books sold almost 9m copies in 19 languages and spawned a successful... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-10-14 16:44:04 UTC ]
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A passage from Cormac McCarthy’s first novel since his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2006 book “The Road.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-10-14 12:10:42 UTC ]
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"Please don't ban my books in my hometown," John Green concluded in the TikTok. "It's really upsetting for my mom." Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-09-13 13:44:10 UTC ]
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Author of The Horse Whisperer, the 1995 book that was turned into a popular film, starring and directed by Robert RedfordNicholas Evans, who has died aged 72 after a heart attack, was the unlikely author of the bestselling novel The Horse Whisperer (1995), which became a Robert Redford film.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-16 17:09:25 UTC ]
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Many fiction writers wind up wishing they could redraft their early works. Akhil Sharma actually did. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-12 13:49:06 UTC ]
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