THE
ARTS
4163 Literature
Unfortunately, when I moved up from junior to senior in the Birkenhead library, as someone from outside the borough I was only allowed a reading ticket for non-fiction. Thus I read some fascinating non-fiction, but no fiction whatsoever. Accordingly, there has been a dearth of fiction in my life. Even later, on when I arrived at the OU, I basically had the choice of whether to read or to write -- I chose to write books.
As a result, the amount of fiction, I've read is much less than I would have liked. Even then, much of it has been science-fiction -- which I read for entertainment. People like Philip Dick, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are possibly the exceptions, since the ideas they present are fascinating their own right. I guess, like most men, I like action dramas and novels of ideas. In the field of science fiction, and going back to its origins, I find Jules Verne entertaining and H G Wells that as well but also offering insight.
Having said that, my favourite author is still Jane Austin. She was the one who first put the novel on the map. It is surprising that she, like Shakespeare in a different genre, managed to write the best novels right at the leading edge of the genre. It is almost as if the freedom afforded by moving into a new genre relieves such authors of the pressure put on their contemporaries. I love Jane Austen because her books are about the politics of society rather than the bodice rippers many seem to think they are. Of course, I love ‘Pride and Prejudice’, but also ‘Persuasion’, ‘Emma’ and ‘Sense and Sensibility’. ‘Mansfield Park’ is also enjoyable, but a lesser work as far as I am concerned
More recently I feel that Iris Murdoch explores much the same topics – albeit from a background as a philosopher at Oxford - and she is one of my recent heroines. I enjoyed all of her books I have read, including ‘Under the Net’, ‘The flight from the Enchanter’, ‘The Unicorn’, ‘The Nice and the Good’, ‘A Severed Head’, ‘The Bell’, and ‘The Red and the Green’.
I find Graham Greene rather more difficult than Iris Murdoch, but I also like his work. His serious books, such as the “Heart of the Matter’ and ‘The Quiet American’ are interesting – not least in terms of his struggle with his religion (especially ‘A Burntout Case’) - and his comedies, such as ‘Our Man in Havana’ are genuinely funny.
Ernest Hemingway I simply find too serious and trying to hard to be macho. Evelyn Waugh I find entertaining but somewhat insubstantial. Trollope I find very dense and not worth the effort. Tolstoy I've never managed to finish.
I have tended to read American authors. But above all, I love the work of James Joyce, such as the ‘Dubliners’ Even though I have only managed read halfway through it, in common with most other readers, I would still rate the best novel ever as his ‘Ulysses’. Its poetry is so rich that I just haven't been able to digest it. I must go back to it some day.
I have read the works of many others, ranging from Wilkie Collins through to Somerset Maugham, as well as the post-war US authors, but there is no genre amongst these that I especially favour. All in all, therefore, I am something of an ignoramus when it comes to literature.
Perhaps my ignorance shows in the one great writer I dislike. I don't know why it is, but I dislike Charles Dickens; except that I dislike most of his mainstream Victorian contemporaries such as Gilbert & Sullivan and Puccini just as much. I think it is the falsity of their work that turns me off. You can, as far as I am concerned, almost see the crocodile tear appearing. Those of Dickens, of course, were written in the form of serials for the popular press so it is understandable. But even so I react to what I think I see as hypocrisy. I perhaps see something of this in the Bronte sisters as well. I like their books, but do not rate them as highly as others do; perhaps because I find them too wrapped up in their own emotional problems.
In terms of poetry I have read almost nothing, except for Fitzgerald’s translation of Omar Khayam’s ‘Rubaiyat’ which – like many others – I read as a student; and found ravishing.
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