James Metcalf on the fictionality of the latest archaeological page-turners
Stephen Puddicombe looks at the unusual appeal of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
Ciaran Rafferty investigates the science of book classification
At the turn of the century Oscar Wilde had already provided a most shocking character in Dorian Gray and trials against he and DH Lawrence for lifestyle and literature only incensed future generations of writers to open all the boxes. Thus-
1. Anthony Patch, The Beautiful and Damned
Although most critics would agree that The Great Gatsby was F Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece its brevity verges on short story boundaries. The Beautiful and Damned has a much grander scope focusing on Anthony Patch’s life from losing his parents as a young child, attending Princeton and living in Italy to falling for society girl Gloria Gilbert and succumbing to jealousy, greed and alcoholism. The story is both a tale of lost youth and of the virtues of persistence with all the great themes of The Great Gatsby but with less of its inconsistencies, Anthony Patch manages to be both tragic and compelling.
2. Meursault, The Outsider
Albert Camus’ Meursault is incapable of showing any emotion. The emotionless opening line ‘Mother died today. Or was it yesterday?’ sets the mood for a sombre weekend in which the protagonist kills an Arab in a beach confrontation, gets sent to court where remorse would have him switched from the death penalty to a life sentence but he remains emotionless up until the dying end. Meursault manages to be a precursor in many ways both to Hannibal Lecter and to the detached beats of Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. A template for cool and for sinister.
3. Tom Joad, The Grapes of Wrath
Widely regarded as fiction’s most influential antihero. Tom Joad returns from prison on parole for a murder which he committed but doesn’t regret at all to find his family forced out of their farm and wanting to move south. Joined by the ex preacher who Tom had met on the way over they head for the west coast in search of prosperity, amid tales of poor folk making it on the west coast. The hard truth is discovered when they find thousands of people all like them competing to work for the lowest price. Tragedies ensue on all fronts with a worker’s uprising and a family falling apart being among the many issues that affect all the disappointed okies who’ve all lost the same Promised Land.
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