Eça de Queiroz: The Maias
“Of all words of tongue and pen,/the saddest are ‘It might have been’” says Bret Harte. I’ve just finished reading Eça de Queiroz’ The Maias, a work poignantly saturated with … Continue reading
The Greek Way: Edith Hamilton
” Little is left of all this wealth of great art: the sculptures, defaced and broken into bits, have crumbled away; the buildings are fallen; the paintings gone forever; of … Continue reading
Star Maker
The other day I finished re-reading a book I first read nearly 20 years ago, Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker. I am just as amazed at its imaginative scope as I … Continue reading
After reading Philip K Dick’s Lies Inc
Reading Philip K Dick’s ‘Lies Inc’ I am conscious yet again what an unusual writer he was. A thwarted social novelist of the 50s who poured out a constant stream … Continue reading
The transmigration of Philip K Dick
In his first decade of writing, 1951-1961, Philip K Dick wrote nine novels recounting the existential problems of characters struggling to survive in small town America. Other novels are known, … Continue reading
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
Angel Archer is in distress. The three people she has loved the most in the world are all dead: her husband Jeff, her father-in-law Timothy, her best friend Kirsten. At … Continue reading
Man of 100 masterpieces: Georges Simenon
There are two Georges Simenons. In Europe and Latin America he is a major author, mentioned in the context of Dostoevsky, Durrenmatt and Patricia Highsmith. In English language countries he … Continue reading
