Christopher Hart
Shit Happens
The Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste
By Rose George
Portobello Books 336pp £12.99 order from our bookshop
I am not altogether sure why the editor keeps sending me books to review on filth, stench and defecation. I don’t think I have any greater interest in these subjects than is normal. Nevertheless, it must be said that this latest offering, a survey of worldwide lavatorial habits, is strangely fascinating. The Big Necessity is shit from beginning to end – but not in a bad way. In fact, Rose George’s bold claim is that ‘shit doesn’t have to be – and shouldn’t be – a dirty word’.
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
'When the language starts functioning as a character in fiction, when it is there drawing attention to itself ... It’s not anything that anybody really takes seriously.'
Our interview with Anthony Burgess from 1983.
http://ow.ly/5u0y50yrjoO
'Sabotage became so prevalent that bankers even created their own terms – ‘asymmetric information’, ‘lack of financial literacy’, ‘the principal-agent dilemma’ – to describe how they might turn a dime from customers’ gullibility or ignorance.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/master-criminals-of-the-universe
'Unlike much that was extracted from India, these paintings were not plunder, and those who created them were properly remunerated and often received due credit.'
@PParkerWriting on 'Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/artists-for-hire