Mark Lawson
Return to Kat Zet
Beryl Bainbridge claimed that she began to write biographical novels because she had exhausted the store of autobiography that had inspired earlier fiction. David Lodge has admitted to following Bainbridge’s example when he turned from campus stories to literary bio-novels. And now there’s further – possibly surprising – evidence to support the theory that a novelist who seeks longevity is likely to find his or her second wind in a different subject matter.
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'The identification of a mighty force sparkling intermittently seems to me to constitute the finest and most consistent poetic achievement of Goudie’s book.'
Candia McWilliam on @lachlangoudie's 'The Story of Scottish Art'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/all-that-glisters
Though 'the hotel had a reputation as the area’s best, its staff were not used to looking after world leaders, so the arrival of Cuba’s new strongman, Fidel Castro, came as something of a shock.'
@dcsandbrook on @simonhallwriter's 'Ten Days in Harlem'.
http://ow.ly/I63850Bvs10
'After all, who knows what anybody is really like, or what they really think? The biographer – same as a painter of portraits – cannot help but reproduce himself to some degree.'
From the archive: Beryl Bainbridge talks to Sebastian Shakespeare.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/sebastian-shakespeare-talks-to-beryl-bainbridge