Via theguardian:
One line from Alan Hollinghurst's new book, The Stranger's Child, is lodged in my head as I arrive at his Hampstead flat. Daphne Sawle, a key figure in the book, whom we follow from a poetically inclined 16-year-old to a tough old boot of 83, is about to be interviewed by would-be biographer Paul Bryant. "He was only pretending to be a friend," Daphne tells herself, "something no interviewer, probably, had ever been."
Bryant duly writes his book and uncovers all sorts of secrets about Daphne's tangled relationship with Cecil Valance, the Rupert Brooke figure at the centre of the novel, whose memory is fought over for decades after his death. I rather like Bryant – a "little wire-haired ratter", according to Daphne – who becomes increasingly bombastic as the book proceeds. Hollinghurst is perhaps less enamoured of his character, and of biographers who confuse art with life. I ring the bell with trepidation.
6 comments:
Thanks for letting us know about Hollinghurst's newest. Pre-ordered from Amazon. despite the'trepidation' Loved his "The Line Of Beauty" and also the movie version, which is my go-to-movie when I have nothing else to watch.
If you want to Fuck me, best you fuck me first....
Every time I see Andrew Holleran, I tell him to write another novel, too...
These guys are so good, but their output can be so slow sometimes.
paul, The Line of Beauty was made into a movie? Cool.
Ummm, wally, that isn't the nature of our relationship...or, maybe I need to read the whole interview? ;)
Tim, so is Holleran in DC? I saw that the cover for his book Grief had an image of DC on it. You need to do the same for me! :)
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