Nigel Andrew
A Ventriloquist’s Love Song
Being Betjeman(n)
By Jonathan Smith
Galileo Publishers 221pp £9.99
Why the bracketed second n in Being Betjeman(n)? It denotes the young John Betjemann’s truncating of his too Germanic-sounding surname – one of many impulsive acts that, understandably enough, enraged his deaf, conventionally minded father, Ernest Betjemann, head of a successful ornamental houseware business. Explosive rows between father and son punctuate this unusual and engaging book, and painful they are to read, with both flinging vicious insults while young John’s mother tries desperately to calm things down. One of the worst rows followed Betjeman’s journey to Cornwall to break it to his parents that he had been sent down from Oxford. It is easy to see in these scenes the roots of the guilty feelings that haunted Betjeman all his life and of the troubled relationship between him and his own son.
This is no straightforward biography, however; it is a highly original treatment of its subject, written by a man with first-hand knowledge of ‘being Betjeman’. Jonathan Smith is a writer of plays and novels, with long experience of ‘being’ various people, if only in the sense of imitating their mannerisms:
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm