| Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann review – plague, war and practical jokes |
[18 Feb 2020|07:00am] |
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/18/tyll-daniel-kehlmann-review The talented Austro-German has created a dazzling, picaresque romp but he squanders the potential of his best characterTime and again, Daniel Kehlmann’s novels feature an artist whose success depends on leaving his wife and children. (His last book broke with the formula to follow a harassed screenwriter on holiday with his family; it’s called You Should Have Left.) The creative travails of men, and the collateral damage they inflict, may not seem a surefire draw for book-buyers, yet Kehlmann, who writes in German, is translated into more than 40 languages – he’s fun to read, and his books travel light, uncluttered by cultural references. Not so Tyll. Set in early 17th-century Europe, it takes place during the thirty years’ war, a sectarian power struggle over the Holy Roman Empire, which ravaged Germany and left millions dead. Wikipedia wormholes await the reader unfamiliar with, say, the battle of Zusmarshausen, the poet Martin Opitz, or indeed the novel’s eponymous hero, lifted from a 16th-century folk tale about a lawless practical joker who roams the land exposing hypocrisy (Michael Rosen once adapted the story). Continue reading...
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| Poetry book of the month: Wing by Matthew Francis – review |
[18 Feb 2020|09:00am] |
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/18/matthew-francis-wing-poetry-book-of-the-month-review This shimmering new collection dissects the natural world with a wondering, meticulous eye It is becoming harder to find modern poetry that is unequivocally at the service of nature. I am not sure why the ability to observe in an unmediated way – with the humility involved – is so often sidelined or treated as second-rate. Matthew Francis has earned the bouquets thrown his way – he has been nominated for the Forward prize a couple of times – but should be more vigorously championed. His gifts are quiet but his name deserves to be broadcast loudly. Nature does not go out of fashion and we need poetry of this quality more than ever. Wing, his new collection, is a joy. Continue reading...
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| 'The most boring part': why the killer didn't matter to Georges Simenon |
[18 Feb 2020|01:20pm] |
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/feb/18/why-the-killer-didnt-matter-to-georges-simenon Identifying the murderer in Maigret and the Man on the Bench is of scant concern to a writer preoccupied with deeper secrets It isn’t normal to begin reviews of detective novels by discussing their last chapter. But Maigret and the Man on the Bench is not a normal detective novel – and its conclusion is so striking that it demands immediate attention. If you’ve read the novel, you’ll know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t, I don’t think it’s giving away too much to say that in just 10 pages in David Watson’s (excellent) translation, Maigret discovers the identity of the murderer of Louis Thouret, the eponymous man on the bench. This murderer has barely been mentioned before in the novel, and Maigret doesn’t care about his identity. “This was the most boring part,” he reflects as he is writing up the case. Just six lines later, the book ends. Continue reading...
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