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26 March 7 2011 Exeposé Books James Henderson & Jacob Moffatt - books@exepose.com The very best series you ever Red-wall Stephen O’Nion , Video Games Editor, remembers the work of Brian Jacques, the author who sadly passed away earlier this year. 2011’s Destruction of childhood progresses with each month. Not only has Dick King-Smith recently passed away, but on February 5 of this year so too did Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series. All I need now is for R.L. Stine and K.A. Applegate to shuffle off this mortal coil and I’ll declare this year cursed. The death of James Brian Jacques at the age of 71 is something that prompted me to reconsider his fiction with my rose-tinted glasses firmly in place. As a sprightly 11 year old I was enraptured by stories about the animals of Redwall Abbey and the surrounding Mossflower Woods. Disney films and The Animals of Farthing Wood may be the mainstays of anthropomorphic based adventures, but the Redwall series managed to take it further, and lend a sense of originality to stories that carried the essence of another time. Like many others, I started with the first of Jacques’ offerings, Redwall. Under attack from Cluny the Scourge, a oneeyed rat warlord, the residents of Redwall Abbey turn to a young mouse named Matthias to take up arms and organise defence of their small community. It was fresh, it was cavalier, and it had battles with inspiring speeches and heroic last stands in equal measure. In short, it was designed for my demographic and I loved it for that. Whilst Redwall lacked the focus of his following books, containing the only references to humans and horses in the entire series and a number of songs that didn’t really interest me, it mattered little. I was hooked. Yet whilst he sold 20 million books worldwide, I’ve found Jacques doesn’t command the same nostalgia that some of his contemporaries do. His stories, for all the larger-than-life characters and regular use of a female protagonist, carry the feel of a boys’ own tale from Imperial Britain. Valiant warriors, noble sacrifices, and an adventurous troupe often forced to defend a place of worship all combined to form tales that could easily be serialized in a scouting book at the beginning of the 20th century. Yet it is partly because of this that Jacques’ tales did appeal to my childhood so much. I would regularly finish the books only to pass them onto my father and friends knowing that what for me was a ripping yarn full of swash and buckle was also some great escapist fare that didn’t patronise the range of young readers devouring the descriptive prose within. From Redwall it was possible to turn to nearly any other offering, as although the series was bound in its own chronology over the course of 21 books, each had a unique flavour and shared mythology. None of the books were content with a simple plot of A to B, i n - stead weaving plots throughout and often, as in the case of The Legend of Luke, justifying a third of the book. Just as Jacques’ imagination was given free rein, so too was mine. Much like King-Smith, Jacques only found his true vocation later in life. However being published at the age of 47 gave impetus to provide a voice for the ideas he had picked up in life. For example, his trademark descriptive style had been formed through writing for children at a school for the blind whilst many of his most memorable characters were based on those he knew in life. Struck by this, in the course of a few months I went about reading everything that he had had published up until 2002, often several times. From Redwall’s publication, Jacques produced a book nearly every year, turning in such brilliant instalments as Marlfox, The Long Patrol and Lord Brocktree. I savoured them all. It was in these books that I was taught hares spoke like upper-class Victorians whilst moles had westcountry accents; that foxes could fight mice and still lose; that it was perfectly possible for otters to operate slingshots and longbows. Yet above all, what Redwall did was what reading should do at that age: entertain and engage. The quality of the series as a whole stands above its minor blemishes, and so whilst Jacques also came to publish Castaways of the Flying Dutchman and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales, it is Redwall for which I, and countless others, will remember him. The final book in the series, The Rogue Crew, is scheduled for release May 3 of this year, and much like the first title, way back in 1986, it will focus on a battle for Redwall Abbey. It’s a fitting way to round off the series, and even though I’m almost twice the age that I was upon first thumbing through book number one, I’ll read book number 22 cover to cover, songs and all. Eulalia!
Exeposé week twenty Thomas Payne discusses the experimental style and varied forms of James Baldwin, preacher turned writer. He was a seventeen year old African- American preacher, a closeted homosexual, growing up in the oppressive confines of New York’s Harlem district, emerging into a world of fervent prejudice against every aspect of his identity. He was also one of the biggest literary heavyweights of the mid-twentieth century, a time steeped in violence and outrage, a period governed by the past, fixed in the present and uncertain of its future. It’s time to rediscover James Baldwin. But first, let us put things into perspective. Right now, a song about as camp as a row of tents is breaking records across the globe. It’s called ‘Born This Way’, and in it, a decidedly overwrought chorus preaches the need for sexual, social and racial equality. Its success is testament to the sheer degree of tolerance exercised in our contemporary British society. The recent resurgence of literature from more obscure corners of the globe, the writings of Amy Tan and V.S. Naipaul for instance, tells a different story. Their prominence on the contemporary literary scene only serves to affirm my belief that some of the best fiction comes from extreme social and psychological tensions, by giving a ‘voice’ to those who have fallen victim to oppressive social structures. But the best literature is also the hardest to understand. Baldwin’s second novel, Giovanni’s Room, was published in 1953 where it was met with stinging controversy surrounding its homoerotic content. It is in fact decidedly hard, even for the most empathetic of readers, to interpret and understand Baldwin’s language and his message, without being driven off course by our own inner prejudices, however slight. There’s even a concern that Baldwin himself never really found the words to express his angst. He dithered between prose, poem and play writing, perhaps never really finding the best vehicle for artistic expression. His later works, the novels Another Country and Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been “Baldwin’s last retreat was, in many respects, a crushing blow to the progression of the Civil Rights movements” Gone, were highly experimental, featuring an ensemble of black and white characters with a mixture of sexualities. Notably, his earlier novels didn’t feature a wide spectrum of diverse characterisation. They were written in his early years of exile in Paris, whilst Baldwin was still trying to come to terms with his sexual ambivalence, just starting to find a voice that was not “merely that of a Negro; or, even, merely a Negro writer”. “Its success is testament to the sheer degree of tolerance exercised in our contemporary British society” Baldwin succeeded in bringing to the public’s consciousness a strand of cultural discourse, not acutely associated with issues of race, but more broadly concerned with identity, the search for a voice amid myriads of prejudice. Tragically, his later works failed to reflect the kind of social progression we’d expect. His works in the ‘70s and ‘80s were scuppered by the assassinations of black leaders and further homophobic attacks. He returned to southern France at the end of his life, where he died in the winter of 1987. Baldwin’s last retreat was, in many respects, a crushing blow to the progression of the Civil Rights movements. But it was also a move that stressed the pertinence of his earlier works, a sure sign that his writing, although at times unsure of itself, remains relevant so long as prejudice exists somewhere in the world. Review The Mermaids Singing Val McDermid ISBN: 0006493580 ‘You always remember the first time. Isn’t that what they say about sex How much more true it is of murder...’ This chilling line immediately stirs a morbid excitement that only increases as you read this macabre page-turner. To most, the title of this book may be unfamiliar, unless you are up to date on your T.S. Eliot poetry. But the author Val McDermid is surely not. The Mermaids Singing is the first book instalment of the series that inspired the hit TV show Wire 27 Books in the Blood, named after McDermid’s second novel revolving around criminal psychologist Dr Tony Hill (played by Robson Green) and D.I. Carol Jordan (Hermione Norris). Tony is presented as a sexually inefficient, bumbling but charming man who has the mind of a genius. His thought processes are as clinical and precise as Sherlock Holmes but are swayed by a modern twist; the criminals Tony Hill deals with are not just disturbed but deeply twisted and perverse. The horrifically mutilated bodies of four men dumped in areas popular with Bradfield’s gay community are just another case for Doctor Hill. But when he is forced from behind the scenes where he safely instructs the police in their search for the killer, Tony’s life also becomes at risk. Through his heart-warming relationship with D.I. Jordan, we follow Tony as he struggles to come to terms not only with his personal life but that of the murderer whose mind he must infiltrate. McDermid’s psychological knowledge is limitless to the effect that the reader is left reeling as to whether they are reading fact or fiction. Winner of the Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of the year 1994, The Mermaids Singing is a fantastically shocking thriller that will leave the reader in a state of such mental upheaval that they will never go out at night again. Rebecca Lodder Sarah Byrne, takes a look back at the lasting legacy of Douglas Copeland’s 1991 debut novel Generation X Although not a recent release the themes of Douglas Coupland’s debut novel are beginning to reverberate today. Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture is a text that, upon its initial release in 1991, literally helped to define a generation. Through the seemingly aimless ramblings of his three protagonists Coupland captured the spirit of a disaffected generation, unhappy with their economically waning society, and indifferent to ‘yuppie’ attempts to save it. 20 years down the line Coupland’s novel has gained new resonance. With many of the issues discussed in the book re-occurring in today’s society Generation X could be experiencing a rebirth. Framed by the mundane lives of the three main characters, Andy, Dag and Claire, Coupland’s novel personalises the hopes and fears of a generation that came of age in the late 1980s. The characters’ fierce suspicions about popular culture and insecurities about their futures leads each of them to find themselves living somewhat communally in the bubble of a Californian desert town. Underemployed but overeducated the characters discover they have too much time on their hands and so fill the hours of their self-inflicted humdrum lives by telling each other stories. Episodic in structure, the seemingly pointless storytelling becomes the centralising element of the narrative whereby each character narrates a reputedly random story whilst the others listen and often fall asleep before its denouement. The tales tend to deal with the personal politics of love, friendship, and family life and therefore it is through the stories the characters tell each other, rather than the narrative of the novel itself, that we uncover their histories and secrets. Chapter headings such as “Shopping is not creating”, “Purchased experiences don’t count” and “Why am I poor” set up a premise that tells the reader a lot about the attitude the characters have towards the world. The episodic nature of the narrative doesn’t seem to lead to any real conclusion and could be described as unsatisfying, but in its unsatisfying nature Coupland is emulating the attitude of the characters in the reader, namely, that life is mediocre and there is nothing we can do about it. The most interesting part of the text is the snippets that are not part of the text at all. Coupland litters the novel with intermittent text-bites that appear at the bottom of almost every page. It is through concepts such as “Conversational Slumming” and “Voter’s Block” and statements such as “You might not count in the new order” and “Reinvent the middle class” that Coupland truly spelled out his definition of the concerns of a generation. So popular were the terms he coined that many of them were used by the press to describe the generation depicted. What originally started out as a nonfiction handbook to the post-baby boomer generation evolved into a compelling dissection of the lives and attitudes of middle-class, American twenty-somethings in the early 1990s. Coupland’s exploration of the characters’ contemplations on issues such as economic and political instability, pollution, and unemployment will certainly resonate with today’s readers of a similar age and causes us to ask, has Coupland’s vision of Generation X come full circle Clare Mullins, Lifestyle Editor, discusses Roald Dahl’s idiosyncratically dark and humorous foray into adult short story writing. Have you ever wondered whether Roald Dahl would be good in bed I once had a seminar tutor who led a discussion on love sonnets with the theory that he could tell which writers would be good at sex just by reading their work. A night with Dostoevsky, he judged, would be miserable and guilt ridden, one with Dickens far too heavily plotted. A rendezvous with Shakespeare, he announced to the class, ‘now that would be a night to remember’. I don’t know whether it was to do with word choice or metre, imagery or syntax but when you’re reading, you can tell. It was with a memory of this slightly disturbing discussion that I approached Switch Bitch, a collection of Roald Dahl’s short stories, that a friend had picked up for me on a trip to Topsham’s second hand bookshop. Dahl’s stories, even his children’s classics, have always had a dark edge and for a young reader, the macabre undertones and sick twists of his stories form part of their appeal. With just enough sinister to excite, just enough detail to titillate, Switch Bitch shows that Dahl didn’t just dabble in the perverse; he was a master of it. The short stories are in equal parts hilarious and disturbing with Dahl’s unique style evident all the way through. Still cheeky and irreverent, each story in Switch Bitch is a maliciously funny take on the erotic. Every story is dark and twisted and oozing with fantastic possibilities. As with Roald Dahl’s children’s stories, nothing is ever quite as simple as it appears and you know that, with the turn of the page, the entire tale could be flipped on its back. The four stories included in the collection feature a range of activities from the beastly to the bestial and a host of characters with the ability to make your toes curl and your balls shrivel back into your body. Switch Bitch features a large cast of sexual miscreants: an aging Uncle Oswald, whose numerous sexual adventures would put Casanova to shame; a bed swapping pair of husbands who lay a dastardly plot to sleep with each others wives; and a mad scientist bent on reconnecting man with his animal ancestry - and that’s just the men. Sexually reawakened wives, a mother and daughter team of temptresses and as many ‘nympho-birds’ and ‘juicy females’ as Dahl can conjure up. If this all sounds a little bit sickening then don’t panic, it’s served up with a delicious slice of humour and Dahl’s tongue is firmly in his cheek. Within a few pages, the reader is once again caught up in the rich and marvellous world of Roald Dahl and his ability to switch between the mundane and the extraordinary is in full force in Switch Bitch. He transports the reader into his own bizarre universe where the shaming of the US president in a scent-induced, television-broadcast, sexual rampage makes total sense. In the grip of Dahl’s narrative, the reader barely has time to question the leaps of logic and imagination and, frankly, why would one want to I would love to live in a world where eccentric millionaires have romantic liaisons on the top of pyramids (practical because, unless 4 assailants try to catch you at it, you always have one side of the pyramid to escape down) or, if not live in one, at least be entertained by the possibilities. Wickedly funny and astute, Dahl litters his stories with observational tips for the would-be seducer. Did you know, for example, that spotting a nymphomaniac is simply a matter of body language A curved posture is clearly, in Dahl’s mind, a sign of frequent embraces. If it’s an insight into a person’s sexual indulgences you’re after, then play close attention to their bottom lip. Eyes can lie but an inadvertent lick of the lips, a nibble, a pouting trembler; these can provide the suitor with a much more reliable source of information. If you’re prepared to disturb any future re-readings of old favourites then pick up a copy and indulge. You’ll never be able to read The Twits again without wondering what they got up to in the bedroom (with Dahl involved you can be sure it involved the beard, the stick and something grisly) and you’ll wonder exactly what kind of kicks the BFG was getting peering through windows - don’t even get me started on Willy Wonker. Switch Bitch leaves you with no doubt about whether Roald Dahl would be good in the sack. A man with such a wicked imagination could never be anything but ‘marvellous’.
Page 1 and 2: ExeposéPhoto: Henry Monday March 7
Page 3 and 4: Exeposé Week Twenty 3 News Exeter
Page 5 and 6: The Exeter Award is an achievement
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Page 11 and 12: nominate: 7 - 17 march 2011 get you
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Page 17 and 18: Exeposé week twenty “This week I
Page 19 and 20: Exeposé week twenty Music Ellie Bo
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