Authors Electric

  I was wondering what to write about this month. I’ve done very little in the way of writing (or music, or work) due to illness – some nasty bug that had me confined to bed for over a week. Not Covid, but still not very pleasant. It did give me a chance to catch up on my reading, though – after the first four days or so, I was reading an average of a book a day. I also listened to a lot of radio, and that’s what inspired this post. Unbeknownst to me, it’s the centenary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses . It’s one of those books that I’ve never read, and never been sure if I even want to, so when a series of programmes were playing on Radio 3 I took the opportunity to listen, and see what all the fuss was about. The initial programme didn’t exactly fill me with a burning desire to read it. Almost a thousand pages describing the course of an ordinary day where nothing much happens. Still, I continued to listen – after all, there was nothing else to do. Over...

It’s time to don my flak jacket and helmet and try to look brave, because I’m going to talk about the potentially controversial topic of controversy. This is something of a pertinent issue for me. My novella Loving Imogen has a somewhat controversial theme, and though nobody’s complained yet, someone might. Indeed, given enough time, someone almost certainly will. Authors are of course no strangers to controversy. James Joyce got into trouble for his extensive descriptions of bodily functions in Ulysses . The Catcher in the Rye (ironically, for a book lamenting the loss of childhood innocence) came under fire for its adult themes. Lolita got people’s backs up for obvious reasons. American Psycho ? Genuinely disturbing, and I don’t shock easily. Admittedly, just about anything could be construed as being controversial. Controversy is in the eye of the beholder; it’s all a matter of perspective. Don’t believe me? Why, even the dictionary has been banned from certain librar...