Thomas Marks
Thomas Marks on First Novels
As the Second World War recedes from living memory, it has become a prominent subject for novelists interested in the complex relationship between forms of fiction and ways of remembering. In Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Briony Tallis reshapes her wartime experiences into a fragile romance that disintegrates as soon as she acknowledges that she is trying to repair the past before her memory fails her. How should novels remember what age distorts and erases? This month, two first novels turn back to the war from the fading perspectives of the elderly. Jennie Rooney’s moving debut, Inside the Whale, recounts the war-torn love of two pensioners, Michael and Stevie, as they come to terms with the end of their affair despite sixty years apart.
When Michael is posted to North Africa in 1941, their letters begin to miscarry and their relationship is blown off course. He is traumatised by the conflict and lingers in Africa. She gives birth to their daughter but marries another man at the end of the war. As they try
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