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Post by dem on Jun 10, 2009 17:28:37 GMT
Kingsley Amis - What Became Of Jane Austen? (Penguin, 1981)  Arthur RobbinsBlurb: Essays and articles from the author of Lucky Jim and Jake's Thing. Acid, witty and provocative as only Amis can be, here he ranges from an affectionate memoir of his father to an appraisal of Jesus Christ, via Jane Austen, Arnold Wesker, Dickens and Dylan Thomas. Whether he's talking about horror movies, Portnoy's Complaint or James Bond, you'll find the Amis angle consistently and superbly entertaining.
`Assured, graceful ... a pleasure to read' — Angus Wilson in the Observer
`Highly entertaining' — The Times Literary Supplement
'A delight' — Daily TelegraphMore Amis. Cover caught my eye, but i really picked this up to read his thoughts on horror movies. Got it home, found out i already had; it's the essay Dracula, Frankenstein, Sons & Co that appeared earlier in Haining's The Dracula Scrapbook (NEL, 1976). Teach me to mix it with the gliteratti.
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Post by dem on Aug 23, 2011 11:39:25 GMT
Also worth mentioning is the 1970s ITV adaptation of Amis's semi-sequel to "The Green Man", "The Ferry Man". Jeremy Brett plays a writer (basically Amis), who finds himself and his wife staying in an inn with a remarkable resemblance to the titular location of his supernatural novel "The Ferry Man", populated by characters who are all alarmingly familiar to Brett. If this really IS his fictional location become real, will his story's ghost turn its attentions on the landlord's teenage daughter? Amis's short story can be found in Peter Haining's "Late Night Television Horror Omnibus". (1974) watched a dead ropey print of this in the early hours, had a good time with it right up until the predictable as sin lame kiss off. Julian Bond's adaptation follows Amis's story almost religiously for the first half hour or so, before cranking things up with further The Green Man-inspired nastiness. Sheridan Owen (Jeremy Brett), smarmy best selling author of supernatural novel The Ferryman, concerning a spectral rapist who drowns his victims, has recently given a TV interview in which he was at pains to assure the presenter that he doesn't believe in ghosts. All this changes on Midsummers Eve when he and wife Alex (Natasha Parry) arrive at a country pub which almost exactly mirrors the one from his own imagination. Worse, the staff have seemingly stepped out of his novel. Owen realises Jill Attingham the landlord's daughter (Lesley Dunlop) is in terrible danger of becoming the ferryman's next victim and sets out to save her from a fate worse than death (followed by death).  A tense moment for Alex in The Ferryman! "Buy my book! Buy my book!" |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 10, 2013 16:13:48 GMT
The Penguin edition does the job, but really, you'll want either or both of the Panther editions from 1971, the first featuring gorgeous cover artwork by Brian Frowde, the second what looks like a left-over from the Confessions Of A Taxi Driver shoot. Reading all of the positive comments about The Green Man inspired me to order a copy. I really wanted the Panther edition with the Frowde cover but was afraid I'd end up with the other Panther cover, so I settled for the 1971 Ballantine edition: |
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Post by dem on Feb 10, 2013 16:34:57 GMT
I love "the other" Panther cover. It looks like something Arrow would use for one of their "What Filthy Rugby Songs Did Next" line. As to the novel, am looking forward to hearing what you make of it.
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Post by pulphack on Feb 11, 2013 8:06:42 GMT
I have the confessions cover, and have still not got round to it after six years, although recent discussion has made me remembe it's there. My problem is this: I feel I can't read it until I've finally finished Take A Girl Like You, Amis' second novel. Which I started five years back, read about a third of, and put on one side. Three years ago I read a bit more, got almost two-thirds through. At this rate I won't finish it until 2017, by which time I will have forgotten where my copy of The Green Man is!
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 11, 2013 18:19:47 GMT
I love "the other" Panther cover. It looks like something Arrow would use for one of their "What Filthy Rugby Songs Did Next" line. Maybe a compromise version? Apologies for the terrible photoshopping. |
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Post by andydecker on Feb 12, 2013 8:56:55 GMT
I love "the other" Panther cover. It looks like something Arrow would use for one of their "What Filthy Rugby Songs Did Next" line. Maybe a compromise version? Apologies for the terrible photoshopping. I have seen much worse contemporary covers. Todays bookart is in a terrible state., especially on the small press and the ebook sectors. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 5, 2013 22:30:34 GMT
As to the novel, am looking forward to hearing what you make of it. I loved the ghost story parts. The comparisons to M. R. James seem apt to me, what with the sorcerer from centuries past, the strange old artifact, and the searches through cryptic old manuscripts. I'll admit to reading the other parts somewhat impatiently--I wasn't as interested in the hero's romantic or alcoholic issues as much as his supernatural ones--but the ending tied everything together in a satisfying way. Amis is also a great stylist. |
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Post by dem on Mar 6, 2013 8:12:34 GMT
Can't remember if you have Amis' faux "true" ghost story, Who Or What Was It?/ aka The Ferryman, but now, with the events of the book fresh in your memory, would be the ideal time to read it.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 7, 2013 12:36:46 GMT
Can't remember if you have Amis' faux "true" ghost story, Who Or What Was It?/ aka The Ferryman, but now, with the events of the book fresh in your memory, would be the ideal time to read it. Good idea. I do own a copy, and I've read it once before, but I'm sure that it would resonate more now. |
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