THE WANTING SEED - Book review - Adult content

 ADULT CONTENT

Anthony Burgess’s future fictional dystopia The Wanting Seed was published in 1962, the same year as his famous A Clockwork Orange.

In his 1982 Foreword Burgess states: ‘The Wanting Seed tries to show … that the response to the prospect of overcrowding and starvation might well be a culture which favoured sterility by promoting homosexuality and rewarding self-castration. But, my instinct argued, nature might respond to human sterility with sterile patterns of its own, and the solution to the population problem could be more ruthless and more logical… I cannot foresee the highly schematic world of (the book) as ever coming to birth, but I think some aspects of it – the glorification of the homosexual, for instance – are already with us.’

No date is given for the world we enter. Certainly, overpopulation has become a global problem in this world of Burgess’s future. Harry Harrison’s novel Make room! Make room! on the same subject (and filmed as Soylent Green) was published in 1966. Interestingly, Burgess uses a similar phrase on p164: ‘ “No room, no room” fluted a thin donnish person…’

‘…planetary survival dependent on the balance of population and a scientifically calculated minimal food supply; tighten belts; win through; evil things they would be fighting; long live the King’ (p53).

It was ‘a near-vegetarian world, non-smoking, teetotal except for ale’ (p38). Later, there is a revolt against this restrictive life-style: ‘Man is a carnivore, just as man is a breeder. The two are cognate and the two have been suppressed’ (p165).

Religion is side-lined, taboo, even, the Pope’s ‘an old, old man on St Helena’ (p40): ‘We were right to throw God out and install Mr Livedog in his place. God’s a tragic conception’ (p42). They use odd phrases, such as Dognose for ‘God knows’… [This is a darkly comic novel, after all!]

Great Britain as we know it has altered radically: ‘Greater London had eaten further into Northern Province and Western Province; the new northern limit was a line running from Lowestoft to Birmingham… the old designations of Wales and Scotland no longer had any precise significance’ (p8). Their trains are nuclear-propelled (p95) – another reason to stop HS2?

The culinary arts are grim: ‘served him with a cutlet of reconstituted vegetable dehydrate cold… A nut was a ‘nutrition-unit, creation of the Ministry of Synthetic Food’ (p51). Tristram was trying to ‘eat a sort of paper cereal moistened with synthelac and… he found it very difficult to spoon down the wet fibrous horror: it was somehow like having to eat one’s words’ (p57). It isn’t just food that is compliant with the dictates of the authorities: ‘Bless their little cotton-substitute socks, the darlings…’ (p153).

The main protagonists are Beatrice-Joanna, her husband Tristram Foxe and his brother Derek. Recently the State Health Service had sent her dead child to the agriculture department for decomposition – ‘useful to the State as phosphorous’ (p4).

Derek is Beatrice’s secret lover, even though he pretends to be homosexual. Homos get priority for all the prime jobs in the Establishment. Tristram is informed that his expected promotion has been blocked in favour of ‘a castrato, a pretty strong candidate’ (p32). ‘… being homo, do you see, wipes out all other sins…’ (p77).

‘For generations people had lain on their backs in the darkness of their bedrooms, their eyes on  the blue watery square on the ceiling: mechanical stories about good people not having children and bad people having them, homos in love with each other, Origen-like heroes castrating themselves for the sake of global stability’ (p184).

And a new corps has been formed: Population Police; Peppol. Dressed in a black uniform, cap with shiny peak, badge and collar-dogs ashine with bursting bomb, which proved on closer inspection, to be a breaking egg’ (p60). And its first Metropolitan Commissioner is Derek – ‘brother, betrayer, lover’.

Assisting the Peppol were the auxiliaries, greys. There are certain telling scenes that send a chill, bearing in mind the prevalent gender activist issues: ‘ “Mind your own business. Woman,”’ (the grey) added with scorn… Very much a woman, mind her own business, socially and biologically, she shrugged…’ (p65).

Beatrice’s sister is married to Sonny, an outspoken God-fearing man living in the countryside, well away from the Peppol patrols. His wife says of him: ‘He may be sane, but sanity’s a handicap and a disability if you’re living in a mad world’ (p151).

By Part Four, things are not going well. ‘Electricity, like other public utilities seemed to have failed’ (p163). Maybe there is hope, however, as someone observes: ‘When the State withers, humanity flowers’ (p167).

Towards the end of the novel, Tristram is conscripted into the army. Annexe Island B6 was a ‘limited area anchored in the East Atlantic, intended originally to accommodate population overflow, now compactly holding a brigade’ (p227). Burgess’s time in the army seems reflected in many observations here. ‘Nobody sang, though. The fixed bayonets looked like a Birnam Wood of spikes’ (p251).

In conclusion, stating nothing that can’t be found in the book blurb: ‘We in Aylesbury are at least civilised cannibals. It makes all the difference if you get it out of a tin’ (172).  Even if the tins are supplied by China…

In this world there is no social media and no smartphones; they use wrist micro-radios (p44). ‘The new books were full of sex and death, perhaps the only materials for a writer’ (p270). Indeed, there is sex and death in this book – but, despite all, there is hope also.

The book’s title is a play on The Wanton Seed, a refrain from the folk-song of that name; Burgess states that the ambiguity is appropriate.

Editorial comment:

Burgess has a tendency to name-drop, possibly by scanning his book-shelves: there’s Linklater, Wilson (his real surname), Adler, Westcott, Asimov, Heinlein, Evans, Ross, Meldrum – and the playful Ann Onymous! A good number of them were science fiction writers: ‘what the old SF writers called a time-warp’ (p241). He was using the then accepted abbreviation, rather than the trendy sci-fi which superseded ‘SF’.

Leslie Thomas called Burgess a ‘writer’s writer’ and I can see why. Certainly, his vocabulary is vast – and dotted with four or five words I’d never before encountered!

THE AERODROME - Book review

 

This is one of the 99 Novels that Anthony Burgess recommended in 1984 (Ninety-Nine Novels, Allison & Busby); this edition, 1982, also includes an introduction by Burgess comparing favourably it to Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four which was published eight years after The Aerodrome (1941).

Burgess considers the village represents fallen man, reflecting ‘the wretched or joyful human condition’. While outside the village is the ‘great aerodrome dedicated to cleanliness and efficiency. It is a self-sufficient totalitarian state with its eyes on the air not on the earth.’

Rex Warner explains that he does not aim at realism and considers both worlds (the village and the aerodrome) repulsive.

At the heart of the story is the narrator, Roy, who has attained his eighteenth birthday only to learn that the Rector, the man he considered his father was not, after all. A few subsidiary characters have names but not much description – Tom, George and Mac, for example. Yet we’re not made aware of the names of the remainder, the more significant characters: the Rector, the Rector’s wife, the Squire, the Squire’s daughter, the Flight-Lieutenant, the Air Vice-Marshal and the Landlord. However, the Landlord’s daughter is blessed with a name: Bess. Roy is drawn to her. And the sub-title of the book tells us why: it’s ‘a love story.’

Disillusioned, parentless, Roy seeks solace in the arms of Bess. Yet a further betrayal is not very far away, involving the Flight-Lieutenant.

There are several mysteries to be resolved: the Rector’s confession of murder; Roy’s true parents; Bess’s birth-right; the Flight-Lieutenant’s past… There are some twists towards the end, too. Interwoven are farcical scenes, the Flight-Lieutenant riding the bull Slazenger and the drunken revelries, and also some poignant moments too.

The Air Vice-Marshal is an unbending martinet who demands obedience from his men. He has plans for the village and even the country. He has a very low opinion of most of the population: ‘We shall destroy what we cannot change!’ (p223)

As for Roy, initially he was besotted with the Air Force and its charismatic leader, the Air Vice-Marshal; so much so that he is willingly recruited. He excels in his training and is ideal material for promotion. Yet, in time, the scales fall from his eyes: ‘It was as though there had been something in me like snow and ice which were now melting  and gradually revealing a landscape whose outlines I had not seen for some time and barely remembered.’ (p245)

This is an unusual imaginative study of power and human nature.

A Dance to the Music of Time (1 of 12)

I blame Anthony Burgess. In 1984 he produced a book (written in two weeks) titled Ninety-Nine Novels: The best in English since 1939. He chose 99, allowing the reader to choose one of their own to make up the hundred. There seemed a paucity of female authors listed and, of course, as with any list of ‘the best’ it was bound to be controversial. He declared it was his personal choice, which he was entitled to make (in the days before a growing phalanx of people feel obliged to be offended by any statement of personal viewpoint).

I’ve read a good number of books from his selection; others are still on my bookshelves, waiting for me to read eventually. Only now, some thirty-four years later am I tackling the sequence A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell, a 12-book novel, dauntingly amounting to just under 3,000 pages! All in the first person viewpoint narrated by the character Nick Jenkins.

The back covers don’t provide a blurb telling the prospective reader about the book; instead, they’re filled with reviewers’ comments:

‘I would rather read Mr Powell than any English novelist now writing.’ – Kingsley Amis.

‘One of the fictional landmarks of our time.’ – Times Literary Supplement.

‘A Question of Upbringing is a witty and shapely account of conventional English education.’ – Francis Wyndham, Observer.

Powell’s first book, A Question of Upbringing (1951) in the sequence is set in the period 1921-1924. It starts, however, with our narrator Nick viewing men at work gathered round a bucket of coke in winter. This two paragraph passage is highly visual and conjures up a distant memory – a Proustian madeleine moment in time – of winter at school in 1921 when Nick first takes much notice of fellow student Kenneth Widmerpool. And so the long novel begins…  

At the time Widmerpool was ‘fairly heavily built, thick lips and metal rimmed spectacles.’ Widmerpool was not highly thought of at school and was the butt of jokes, yet he seemed to possess a thick skin.

Nick shares a room with Charles Stringham and Peter Templer.

The fact that Templer had declared ‘he had never read a book for pleasure in his life did not predispose me in his favour: though he knew far more than I of the things about which books are written. He was also an adept at breaking rules, or diverting them to ends not intended by those who had framed them.’ 

Stringham was ‘tall and dark, and looked a little like one of those stiff, sad young men in ruffs, whose long legs take up so much room in sixteenth-century portraits…’ (p12) He was an excellent mimic, and used this to good effect to get their housemaster Le Bas arrested! (pp 48-52) As you will gather from this, the novel is at times comical – never laugh-out-loud, but it possesses amusing scenes and dialogue. For example, Stringham’s attractive mother observes, ‘Still, you weren’t expelled, darling. That was clever of you.’ And Stringham replied, ‘It took some doing.’

Sillery is a manipulative Oxford don who hosts students with tea and cake, and while he inclined ‘to the Right socially, politically he veered increasingly to the Left’ (p165). He is a name-dropper and maintains contact with ex-students who might prove useful. ‘Sillery was a keen propagandist for the League of Nations, Czechoslovakia, and Mr Gandhi... and had been somewhat diverted from earlier Gladstonian enthusiasms by the success of the Russian Revolution of 1917.’ (164)

Nick spends a summer in France, where he stays at a large house, La Grenadiere, run by a Madame Leroy. The time-worn taxi ride from the train station has its moments: ‘Even when stationary, his taxi was afflicted with a kind of vehicular counterpart of St Vitus’ dance, and its quaverings and seismic disturbances must have threatened nausea to its occupants at the best of times.’ (p108)  On arrival, Madame Leroy ‘led the way through the door in the wall in the manner of a sorceress introducing a neophyte into the land of faerie…’ (p109)

Throughout there are apt references to classical paintings, which isn’t surprising since Powell studied art in the early 1920s. What appears impressive is the forward planning in the early novels: ‘He piled his luggage, bit by bit, on to a taxi; and passed out of my life for some twenty years.’ And ‘This was the last I should see of Stringham for a long time. The path had suddenly forked. With regret, I accepted the inevitability of circumstance. Human relationships flourish and decay, quickly and silently, so that those concerned scarcely know how brittle, or how inflexible, the ties that bind them have become.’ (p222)

Clearly, much of the book has an autobiographical feel about it, reinforced by the first person narration. The writing is measured, considered, and coldly precise. There is much to admire in that regard. Yet, not a lot happens. The colours and hedonism of the 1920s do not seem in much evidence; the depiction, despite the paintings, appears colourless. There is no depth of feeling, only good observation. It’s a book of quite engaging characters; a slice of life and manners, perhaps, in a moment in time long gone by.

The cover features a quote from the Sunday Times: ‘A remarkable picture of the history of our times.’ This must relate to the entire sequence rather than this single book.

I’m determined to read all twelve books to see what happens to Stringham, Templer and Widmerpool.

Editorial comment

My copy was published in 1983 (after 14 prior impressions) and yet there were two glaring typographical errors at the outset; ‘street had made a a kind of camp…’ (p5) and ‘he was found to posses an overcoat…’ (p10).

There are only four chapters.

There’s a tendency to write long paragraphs – sometimes only one or two per page.

An over-indulgence with colons in these lengthy paragraphs gives the impression that the pages have succumbed to a contagion of sorts.

Sentences should certainly vary in length, to provide diversity and change pace; however, Powell employs too many complex and lengthy sentences for the modern taste.

Book review - 52 Weeks

52 WEEKS, 52 WESTERN NOVELS

What a treasure trove Scott Harris and Paul Bishop have produced!

If you’re a fan of westerns – movies, TV or in print (paper and electronic) – then you’ll absolutely love this book. If you’re curious about what all the fuss is about regarding westerns, this will explain it. If you’ve never read a western, then this book will show you what you’re missing.

The driving concept is original – offering recommended western titles, one per week for a year’s worth of reading. There are quite a few ‘best of’ book recommendation books around; one of my favourites being Anthony Burgess’ Ninety-Nine Novels – the Best in English Since 1939 (1984). Naturally, some of the titles were contentious; it was his personal choice, however.  With 52 Weeks the compilers haven’t fallen into the ‘best’ trap, and they’re aided by quite an illustrious bunch of other authors and readers who have added their own favourites to the selection.

Ranging alphabetically from .44 by H.A. De Rosso to The Wolfer by Loren Estleman, there’s something for everyone, both male and female reader, here. 

Naturally, there is a good number of ‘classics’ – The Mark of Zorro (1919), Hondo (1953), The Day the Cowboys Quit (1971), The Big Country (1957), Old Yeller (1956), Riders of the Purple Sage (1912, The Searchers (1954), Shane (1949), The Shootist (1975),  True Grit (1968), Valdez is Coming (1970) and The Virginian (1902) to more modern offerings dating as recently as 2015. While I’ve read most of the above, the beauty of this book is that it introduces new authors and books to consider for that always growing 'to be read’ list.

A double-page spread is devoted to each book , comprising Book Facts (a teasing narrative without spoilers), Author Facts, and interesting pieces in Beyond the Facts and Fun Facts, the latter two sections sometimes providing anecdotal information, or details about the movies spawned by the book. In addition, there’s a favourite quote; a good idea, though sometimes I felt that the quotation wasn’t too meaningful! Many of the featured authors have produced hundreds of books (in several genres); prolific journeymen to be admired for their output.

Each double page is lavishly coloured with two or three covers/movie posters.

I was surprised that Max Brand didn’t appear; his The Trail to San Triste is one of my favourites. Three books highlighted, while interesting in their own right, are not novels but non-fiction works. I’d have liked to have seen a Contents page, a copyright page and dates of authors’ births and (where appropriate) deaths; yes, I could obtain that latter information by Googling, but so could the compilers. But these are minor quibbles.

This book is definitely a labour of love by all concerned, including the editor Nerissa Stacey and the designer Kari Kurti: a triumph.  

Buy it, savour it, treasure it.

Significant Burgess

A report in the Daily Mail says that English Heritage won’t be putting up a blue plaque for Anthony Burgess on a property in Glebe Street, to commemorate that he lived there the author between 1963 and 1968. They suggested consideration may be made in five years’ time instead of the usual ten for reapplication.

I can’t find this item elsewhere, but if it is valid then it does seem rather crass, considering their statement for refusal is that ‘it is too soon after his death to evaluate the merits of shortlisting.’

Burgess died in 1993 – twenty-two years ago. I know he was prolific - he wrote 33 novels, 25 non-fiction pieces, three symphonies, over 150 other musical works and other works – but surely by now, not to mention over his lifetime, the merits of his output should be plain.

There is a UK plaque in honour of Burgess at the University of Manchester, which was unveiled in 2012. There is also a plaque outside his flat in Monaco, where he lived for seventeen years.

 

 

Born on February 25, 1917, in Manchester, England, Anthony Burgess was a novelist, poet, playwright, screenwriter and composer. He was fluent in nine languages. Well known novels included The Wanting Seed, Inside Mr. Enderby, Earthly Powers and A Clockwork Orange; the latter was adapted into a popular though controversial 1971 Stanley Kubrik film. He died on November 22, 1993 in London.

http://www.anthonyburgess.org/about-anthony-burgess/

I have many favourite authors, and he is one of them. Leslie Thomas called him ‘a writer’s author’. There is an affectionate and enlightening lengthy article by Blake Morrison in the Guardian, (February 2015) concerning Burgess:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/21/anthony-burgess-book-critic

 

The Writing Process

I was asked to take part in The Writing Process Blog Tour by Lorraine Mace, a multi-talented novelist and journalist whose latest work, Call It Pretending was published through Crooked Cat in January; the third in a series. I reviewed the first, Bad Moon Rising here.

The idea of the tour is that all the writers who take part answer the same four questions about their work and their writing process, and together they form a great electronic blogging chain in the ether!

You can read Lorraine’s blog (and find out more about her writing) here.

Alas, I’m clearly a weak link in this chain as I’ve been unable to coerce, suborn or otherwise con any fellow writers into participating. To be fair, they’re all busy writing, it seems. So, the end of this entry will not link to other writers answering these 4 questions, after all. I will append several interesting blogs/websites you may care to visit, however.

1) What am I working on?

Having just finished a crime-thriller novel, the first in ‘The Cat series’, I’m now working on To Be King, a fantasy novel with Gordon Faulkner. He has created the fantasy world, its history and geography, and many of the main characters; I put meat and clothing etc on them, and inject additional sub-plots. This is a sequel to Wings of the Overlord which is being published by Knox Robinson in June, the first in a series entitled The Chronicles of Floreskand. It’s fun writing about a fantasy land, creating larger-than-life characters and threats. [Yesterday’s blog is about the launch – I got authorisation from the publisher yesterday to shout out about it.]

I’m also working on the second in ‘The Cat series’, Catacomb. I really enjoyed the first story, Catalyst, which ranged from London, Seahouses, Portsmouth, Barcelona and the Riviera [and hasn't been accepted yet...!]. Catacomb takes place mainly in Morocco.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Plenty of fantasy books are co-written. Yet if the world building is comprehensive, then it’s bound to be different. The characters are grounded in reality though supernatural and fantastic elements intrude. My crime-thriller books tend to be fast-paced, with strong female protagonists, and inhabit the real world, often going to places I’ve known.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I write in almost any genre maybe because I enjoy reading in most genres. Eclectic is doubtless the posh word for that... Some stories and characters lend themselves to a particular form.

I’m drawn mainly to the crime-thriller and westerns, I suppose, since I’ve written most in those categories. Of course westerns involve crime, romance, and thriller elements too! As I’ve travelled quite a bit (the Royal Navy helped there), I might be drawn to involve a foreign place I’ve visited; even then, I’d want to back up my reminiscences with research.

4) How does my writing process work?
As Anthony Burgess said, ‘I start at the beginning, go on to the end, and stop.’ Though of course it isn’t always so linear. I have a plot-plan, whether this is when writing my own books or a co-written one.
 
With the Floreskand series, the plot-plan is devised by Gordon, but there are plenty of blank sections that need filling. As Gordon lives in Scotland and I’m in Spain, it’s a distance thing, but thankfully with the Internet that doesn’t pose a great problem. I write, based on his plot-line, throwing him a few curved balls along the way, and he hits me with stuff I didn’t know about, maybe concerning a particular family’s history, and away we go...
 
For my crime-thrillers, I usually do research on the places the characters are going to visit; this often supplies me with additional plot devices.
 
And for my westerns, I think up the characters and plot first, then apply whatever research is necessary, whether that’s Civil War knowledge or the flora and fauna of South Dakota, for example.

I write most days. For each project I maintain a spread-sheet so I know how long I’ve spent on any book. This process is explained in greater detail in my book Write a Western in 30 Days - with plenty of bullet points! As the reviewers say, it's of use to writers of all genres, not only westerns. The day will be divided into attending to e-mails, social media and blog, shopping, gardening, other chores, and creative writing; the latter may be the WIP or a short story or article. No two days are alike. I may be ‘retired’ but I’m never bored!

 
Random selection of websites/blogs of interest:

David W. Robinson – crime novelist with over a dozen books to his name, now embarking on a supernatural series - http://www.dwrob.com/

Tom Rizzo – novelist, interviewer, really nice guy - http://www.tomrizzo.com/

Paul D. Brazill – Brit novelist and short story writer of noir crime who lives in Poland - http://pauldbrazill.com/

James Reasoner – multi-genre, prolific author - http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com.es/

The Rap Sheet - an essential resource for readers seeking information about what’s new and interesting in the world of crime fiction. It covers crime, mystery, and thriller fiction both recent and vintage, appearing in all media--print as well as broadcast. - http://therapsheet.blogspot.com.es/

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