JUNE 1981 Editor: Anne Smith Assistant Editor: Deborah Mitche/1
Editorial Office: The Uterary Review 30 York Place Edinburgh EH1 3EP Tel: 031-557 1356 Business and Advertising: Bridget Heathcoat Amory 27 Goodge Street London W1 Tel: 01-580 7510
All mss. should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. These are submitted at the authors ' own risk, and while every possible care is taken, The Literary Review cannot hold itself responsible for any loss or damage. The Literary Review is always available in London at Quartet Bookshop in Poland Street, W. 1.
~ 1981 The Uterary Review, a member of the Namara Group .
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE WORLD OF BOOKS Peter Mann on literary novels in the l ibraries-
who reads them? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Sissons on Bestsellers, expected and unexpected .. Alan Day on the Everyman Library: The first 75
years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FICTION Richard Brautigan, Muriel Spark, J. G. Farrell,
Keith Waterhouse , begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anita Desai on Island and Other Stories
REVIEWS AND REVIEWERS A new feature: the reviews reviewed
CHILDREN'S BOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . POETRY Stan Smith on Ezra Pound: and 'the deepest dirtiest secrets of English culture. ' . . . Nairn Attallah on the poetry of exile . . . . . . . . .
3 .
5
6
8
10 15
16 18
20 21
FRENCH Roger Uttle on Frenaud and the Silence of
God; Graham Martin on Jabes and the absence of God .
23
PAPERBACKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. RELIGION Ronald Higgins on Mary Kenny's ch ristianity :
25
'What works need not be true . What is t rue need not work' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
QUESTION BOX Freedom in the arts ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
UVES AND LETTERS Benkovitz and Brophy's Beardsley: 'the succubus and the housekeeper.' . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
DRAMA Katharine Worth on Webster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
ART John McEwen: The Umehouse School
31
-~)\\,
Al.
POLITICS Martin Walker on the CIA in Chile . . . . .
PRESS . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . TV . . . . . LETTERS From Ludovic Kennedy, John Vaizey and others .
SHORT STORIES Penelope Uvely: The Ghostofa Flea . 'Actually,'
she said, 'I have tried to kill myself. Twice I wasn 't going to tell you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
POEMS . . . . . . .. . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. COMMENTARY George Hay: Now Hear Th is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Marriner on being a dole-queue writer . .
32
33
34
36
37 i
38
44
45 47
Notes on Contributors
Duncan Fallowell's last book was Drug Tales .
His next book , on April Ashley , will be published by Jonathan Cape this year. Christopher Hawtree works on London
Magazine. Ronald Higgins is a former diplomat and
Observer executive . He is the author of The Seventh Enemy, a freelance writer and lecturer on ecological issues. Norman Lebrecht is a freelance writer and small publisher. Roger Little is Professor of French at Dublin
University. Peter Mann is Reader in Sociology at Sheffield
University. Graham Martin is a lecturer in French at
Edinburgh University. Michael Sissons is managing director of A. D. Peters literary agency. Stan Smith is a lecturer in English at Dundee.
University .
Cover illustration by Debi Angel of Namara Features
