LITERARY BENT – Writing at its best

Debates about whether the digital world is shortening attention spans rumble on. School teachers now report that pupils can’t concentrate for long, and the likely cause is the constant distraction of digital gadgets and social media. University teachers report that year one is remedial work, an exercise in basic education. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/3342827/Half-of-all-universities-have-to-teach-remedial-maths-and-English.html) No doubt there is […]

It’s a good time to re-read Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel ‘The Remains of the Day’. First published in 1989, the novel can be read as an elegy for England. Much of what made England great derived from her empire (including Scotland). When that receded, her power, wealth and influence in the world declined. It was the

Some books grow in repute over years as if by gestation. This novel by Michael Chabon (https://www.harpercollins.com/authors/michaelchabon) has quietly become something of a cult classic, readers smiling to themselves about its genius. I wonder if you’ll agree that it’s an astoundingly good read. The summary is as follows. Josef Kavalier smuggles himself out of occupied Prague

The year 2017 sees the 25th anniversary of Iain Banks’s novel of 1992 ‘The Crow Road’. The novel is the tale of Prentice McHoan and his complex Scottish family. Prentice, preoccupied with thoughts of sex, death, booze, drugs, and God, (which interesting person isn’t?) has returned to his home village of Gallanach full of questions about

Chris Wilson (http://christopher-wilson.net/9701.html) is the author of several novels, including – Gallimauf’s Gospel, Baa, Blueglass, Mischief, Fou, The Wurd, The Ballad of Lee Cotton, and Nookie. His work has been translated into several languages, adapted for the stage, and  twice shortlisted for the Whitbread  Fiction Prize. Wilson completed a published Ph.D. on the psychology of humour at The

Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho (Paulo Coelho – Wikipedia) offered this tale about fear, temptation and responsibility in 2000. The fable is about a man who sets out on a journey to discover the true face of humankind. Viscos is a small village located in France. It has only 281 inhabitants. In the past, the place was crawling with thieves,