Literature Archives

If you’re having Hard Times and you can’t help but feel your life and adventures are somewhat bleak, Our Mutual Friend Book/Daddy offers us Great Expectations with the news of a Charles Dickens theme park opening in Kent. Granted, his opinion of the attraction (designed by the creator of Santa World in Sweden) is of somewhat bemused skepticism and, admittedly, the cynicism scale must be going off the chart when a main feature of the park dedicated to one of the great social commentators of the Victorian era is the longest log flume in Europe. Still, the dark and moody London evoked in Dickens’s literature is sure to be worth a look, right? Well, it comes as something of a shame that the designers believe that, “Visitors are not going to come here to be depressed so our role is to entertain them. We’re not going to have starving babies crawling around on the cobblestones. If you’re coming from Japan or America what you’re probably going to want to see is a realisation of what you think London might be like, but is no longer.”

Our thoughts? Hire Tim Burton to design it – fantastic.

Right, who has made a similar resolution to Marg of ReadingAdventures that they would read those books that get short listed and then talked about? Well if you did, here is the final six in the running for the Orange Prize:

Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Arlingtom Park - Rachel Cusk
The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers - Xiaolu Guo
The Observations - Jane Harris
Digging to America - Anne Tyler

Victoria at Eve’s Alexandria is backing Adichie, but she also has a ‘quiet’ favourite… Desai. I’m not sure anyone’s going to argue…

J.R.R. Tolkien, the famed author of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings has a new release out today.

The Children of Hurin has been pieced together from a collection of unfinished manuscripts. This job was done by Christopher Tolkien, the youngest son of the legendary writer. He achieved the completion of the novel with minimal editorial intervention due to the dedication he gave to studying his father’s material and associated notes.

Telling a story set in middle-earth, but occurring earlier than Tolkien’s more familiar works, the reader learns of the hero Hurin. He is cursed by Morgoth, a Dark Lord; it is a curse that affects his son, Túrin Turambar and the narrative follows him and his sister Nienor. The tone of the story is said to be considerably darker than previous tales told by Tolkien.

Tolkien is a global brand and the addition of The Children of Hurin to the franchise will only further this, as the novel is snapped up by eager fans. To read more go to tech@god (spoilers included) or thequacksoflife blog.

The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery has been translated into over 160 languages and has sold in excess of 50 million copies since its publication in 1943.

The novel contained pictures that were painted by Saint-Exupery. These images have been recreated in many of the subsequent editions of the story. It has come to light that a rare original of one of these illustrations was found in Japan at a second-hand book fair in 1994 and purchased for 1.2 million yen, equivalent to a little over five thousand pounds.

Depicting a businessman living on an asteroid the image is due to go on public display at the end of April.

For more details read these entries at Clip Marks and Japan Today.

Ian McEwan’s new novel On Chesil Beach is set to reach shelves this month. The novel is set in 1962 and tracks the relationship between two young lovers, Florence and Edward. To quote the publisher, “…On Chesil Beach is an extraordinary novel that brilliantly, movingly shows us how the entire course of a life can be changed – by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.”

McEwan has a reputation for creating an immense intensity with his words and On Chesil Beach looks set to continue this trend, however, research for the book has dropped him in a spot of bother. While walking the pebble stone South Coast beach, McEwan pocketed a couple of rocks, presumably to provide inspiration when sat writing. This admission has led to the possibility of a £2000 fine because the beach is protected as a site of special scientific interest.

The Telegraph cover the story, it features on this blog and is part of Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant round-up.

The rose-scented wind of romance has swept the blogosphere with the announcement that love letters written by Ernest Hemingway for actress Marlene Dietrich have been unveiled at the JFK library. Embracing this news with passion, bloggers on Delightfully Dawgmatic and Sexualitè share their thoughts on the collection and both lament the loss of old-fashioned letter writing. Is romance dead in this modern age of electronic communication or is it perfectly possible to make your sweetheart swoon with a polyphonic ringtone? Let us know your thoughts.

Granted, that was a truly awful headline but - considering this is an article about manga comic book versions of some of Shakespeare’s classic plays – you are lucky we used something more imaginative than “2B or not 2B”….

The PopCultureShock blog provides a quick preview of a couple of new mangas, produced by SelfMadeHero, adapting the Bard’s original work for a new audience. Now, a young Hamlet is haunted by the ghost of his father in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic cyberworld. The Romeo and Juliet adaptation is set in a fashionable district of Tokyo where the pair of star cross’d lovers struggle to be together amidst the bitter feud engulfing their Yakuza families in a wave of bloody violence.

ArtsWom would be interested to find out how successful these comic books turn out to be. There can be no denying Shakespeare’s ability to pen an engrossing tale with fantastic twists and dramatic turns that, perhaps, is well suited to the dynamic, exaggerated style of manga. If these adaptations will help overturn the notion that Shakespeare is boring, then they deserve to be celebrated and promoted.

PrinceAndrei of the Literature Network Forums asks the community, “will Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code be considered a classic in 2200?”. In short, the response seems to be a resolute NO. The question does raise some interesting points though. Do we, in the present, have the perspective to comprehend which popular novels will become classics and which will be lost to the pulper in the mists of time? If we assume we can, what do you think are the criteria that make a novel a classic?

ArtsWom believe that a classic must obviously be able to offer as much to future generations as it does to us now. While The Da Vinci Code was undoubtedly a page-turner, at the conclusion, the book offers its readers little more than (understandable) relief and a vague sensation that Dan Brown thinks he’s smarter than us – but we’re not sure why.

Continue reading for our thoughts on what will ensure a novelist keeps shelf space in Waterstones come the 23rd century.

Continue reading »

During a very complicated conversation recently with a very excitable staff member of our local Borders store, ArtsWom found itself having reserved a copy of the final book in JK Rowling’s much-admired Harry Potter series. Unfortunately, such was the enthusiasm of said staff member, we have no idea how much we paid for this service nor how we should collect it when the time comes. However, such confuddlement has not sapped our thirst for the conclusion to this thrilling tale and we share the rest of the world’s joy at finally being able to see the cover art which has been posted up on The Hollow Men.

Foxy Kaye offers her thoughts in her Live Journal and believes she has picked up on a pattern of characters appearing on the cover only to die in the books. Best Week Ever entitle their article Harry Potter and the Boring Book Cover, which makes me think that they should, perhaps, have a look at the British cover (as presented by GalleyCat) that seems far more adventurous - if equally as uninformative.

The latest epic discussion that caught our eye over at the Literature Network Forums started way back in those hazy, carefree days of 2005 and has been going strong ever since. The community there has been discussing which literary characters they love and which ones they loathe, causing minor squabbles and the occasional gasp of disbelief along the lines of “you liked Scarlet!?”

Follow this lovely link to join the conversation and see if anyone is ‘dissing’ your favourite characters! (Yes, ArtsWom is so hip.)

The news that popular book chain, Borders, will be withdrawing from Britain to concentrate on their native US market due to decline in sales can only be cause for much misery amongst British book fans. ArtsWom have always found our local Borders an absolute pleasure to browse for books, music and films and it will be a shame to lose the franchise that, in a way, made shopping for something to read fun again.

The blog, Marketing for Authors 2.0, suggests to their readers that - considering the most successful bookseller in the UK is Tesco, which tends to only stock the most popular authors of the time - the best choice for emerging authors to promote their books will be via online stores, which is something of a shame for people who like to wander between shelves of literature or sit and read a few pages before committing to the buy.

In an article on the Guardian news site, David Teather quotes an insider saying that it is unlikely the stores will be closed, and cites a few options available to the business. ArtsWom sincerely hopes a reasonable solution can be reached as we’ve only just pre-ordered our copy of the new Harry Potter novel and Terry Pratchett, one of our favourite authors, is due in our local Borders store later on in the year.

Fancy engaging in some international literary conflict before the weekend? Visit The Literature Network Forums where Brendan Madley asks which culture has produced the greatest literature - American or British. The question has stirred some heated discussion, with both sides of the argument asserting their preferred nations dominance. Maybe this is the bias of patriotic pride but it seems as though Britain is winning…your thoughts?

Fans of comic books have long argued about the subtle, yet significant, political and social references alluded to behind the Ka-booms! and Ker-Thwoks! Indeed, whose initial reaction upon seeing some lyrca-clad superheroine throw a car into the face of a giant mechanical gorilla, isn’t to quote Voltaire? Exactly.
Although the comic world’s ability to tap into the popular conscious and deliver scathing social commentary (to a largely liberal audience) has been key to the continuing success of the industry since before the Junior G-Girls fought for feminism in 1938 - occasionally, a plot-twist will occur that is so radical the national media will be eager to pretend they know the difference between White and Green Martians.
In the long-running series, Civil War, Captain America is leading a group of ‘rebel’ superheroes fighting against governmental regulations that will force all super-powered individuals to reveal their secret identities. The anti-regulation group consider the legislation as an assault on individual freedom and subsequently Captain America yet again faces battle against the forces of oppression - this time from within his own country.
Although this story has been running for some time now (and has made no attempt to shield it’s anti-Bush/Cheney message) the recent furore has been caused by the unexpected assassination of the classic American hero. His death has been read by many to symbolise the death of the American dream brought on by the policy failures and alleged corruption of the Republican government. Damian Fowler summarises the thoughts and feelings of the online communities in his Guardian Unlimited article, that can be viewed…here.
For those of you feeling the left-wing, liberal messages of these comic books are dangerously unchallenged by the conservative right…have no fear, Liberality For All - the world’s first conservative comic book - should assuage your concerns…

Unfortunately, ArtsWom was not around to cover the previous XXIII tutorials in John Baker’s effortlessly engrossing “Learning to Write” series. However, that is no excuse to ignore the blog that offers more, for free, than months of creative writing classes. The writer’s most recent lesson teaches us how successfully integrating theme, character and plot will help to create a far more believable and three-dimensional character, defined more effectively by their actions than by lengthy descriptions. Baker passes on his expertise in such a casual manner that it barely feels like you’re learning - he honestly makes it sound so simple.
Simple enough to try for yourself? Fortunately, the most popular literature forum on the internet offers an ideal outlet for your creative imaginings. The Literature Network hosts a forum entitled “Short Story Sharing” which has a fairly obvious function. They have a friendly and helpful community of fellow writers available to share advice and inspiration - the least you could do is share your talent.

Martin Kemp, writing on the Guardian Unlimited Art & Architecture blog, offers his thoughts on the ongoing mystery of the Renaissance and Baroque era paintings as popularised by Dan Brown’s enthusiastic novel The Da Vinci Code. Many of us would have assumed such ‘conspiracy’ theories wouldn’t have outlasted the movie, but it would seem as though there are still some people out there who believe there’s life in this. Kemp’s conclusions are logical and grounded enough to warrant a quick quote.

“Paintings are full of deeper meanings - symbolic and allegorical. But the surface and the depth are always related in a non-arbitrary way. Leonardo’s Last Supper contains allusions to the Eucharist and Christ’s sacrifice, in addition to the narrative of his betrayal, but these meanings are not “coded”. They are not concealed by some kind of strategy to mislead.”

Gee…way to spoil all the fun. You’re telling us we have to appreciate what’s actually there?