quarta-feira, 11 de outubro de 2006

II. On homophile literature (2)












Alan Hollinghurst

was born in Stroud in Gloucestershire, England in 1954 and was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was on the staff of the "Times Literary Supplement" from 1982 to 1995.

«His acclaimed first novel, The Swimming-Pool Library (1988), gives a vivid account of London gay life in the early 80's through the story of a young aristocrat, William Beckwith, and his involvement with the elderly Lord Nantwich, whose life he saves. It was followed by The Folding Star in 1994, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction). The narrator, Edward Manners, develops an obsessive passion for his pupil, a 17-year-old Flemish boy, in a story that was compared by many critics to Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice.

Spell (1998), a gay comedy of manners which interweaves the complex relationships between 40-something architect Robin Woodfield, his alcoholic lover Justin, and Justin's ex, timid civil servant Alex, who falls in love with Robin's son Danny. The action moves between the English countryside and London where Danny introduces Alex to ecstasy and the club scene.

Alan Hollinghurst's translation of Racine's play Bajazet was first performed in 1990. His most recent novel, The Line of Beauty (2004), traces a decade of change and tragedy and won the 2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
It has been adapted for BBC Television by Andrew Davies.»

… Is he grand or what?!

12 comentários:

Anónimo disse...

I'll vote for "grand".

The file server is finally up again for my personal space. Was down for 9 days.

I too like the first secret pic on the last GMR art Blog (a tasty edible if I ever saw one). However, I also fancy the last one (the Rose). You are probably the only one who will ever see it, so I raise my glass of imaginary Spanish spumante, and gulp down a rather large toast to you.

RIC disse...

Lord, Will! 9 days?! Are there people depending on such a server to work?...
Thank you very much! Likewise! And if the espumante is Spanish I wish you in Spanish too: Salud!

Anónimo disse...

I think Spanish espumante blows French Champagne out of the race track. Dunno – like prefer the flavor. Italian versions also nice. Am home for lunch.

Ohio is a swing state and was probably stolen by the rotten republicans via rigged voting machines, insufficient machines in African American voting precincts, etc. I am waaaaaaaaay leftist/progressive now. I expect Ohio to go blue this go around. The west coast where I live is SOLID TRUE BLUE.

Back to work. Will answer email tonight. You may finish the bottle!

Another small plane crash into a NYC building

RIC disse...

Well now, Will, if you can drink «Moët & Chandon» or «Dom Pérignon», you won't want to have anything else. Period.
For all I know the whole Ohio story remains to be told yet...
Thank you very much, Will, for this delicious virtual Champagne. By the time you'll be back the bottle will be long gone...
Yes, quite sad that accident in NYC...
Nice that you can go home for lunch! :-)

André disse...

Só queria deixar aqui uma palavra a respeito da Fnac que coloca na estante "Ficção Gay" títulos como os de Frederico Lourenço ou Alan Hollinghurst, misturados com livros de índole claramente pornográfica.

RIC disse...

Meu caro André, bem-vindo! O objectivo parece-me óbvio: sem querer ser demolidor, num país como o nosso, qualquer credibilidade que a literatura homófila (a própria designação «gay», neste contexto, é intencional...) possa adquirir junto do público leitor em geral não é benquista pela macheza nacional, a beatice e a hipocrisia. (E depois desta resposta, já sei que o blog vai ser outra vez bloqueado. Os cobardes são assim; receberam formação na Pide...)
Nunca vi semelhante idiotice nas Lojas Fnac de Paris...
Um abraço!

Jack disse...

I've never heard of him.

Did you read his books?

I never follow/believe critics.

Joshua disse...

Swimming pool diary is one of my favorite books!

RIC disse...

Well Joel, I guess you do just fine. Everyone reads (?) and speaks about «The Da Vinci Code», and I just don't intend to read it. Ever.
I've been told «the Swimming-pool Library» is good, and I read «The Line of Beauty» after watching the series. I found the book better, and the series is really great...
Follow your instincts, I'd say...
Btw, I am just a reader like any other. :-)

RIC disse...

Hello Joshua! I was told it's one of the best, if not his very best, and was rather successful indeed. I liked «The Line of Beauty» very much. The BBC series was superb, but I found the book even better.

Jack disse...

If you want to read one of Dan Brown's books, read Angels and Demons.

It's a lot better then the Da Vinci thingny!?

RIC disse...

«Thanks but no thanks», Joel! A few months ago I saw a long documentary produced by BBC on the man, the writer and the work. To be honest, it all struck me as being as deceitful, foney, forged, falsified... you name it, just to sell and make money. As MInge would say, I was sooo disgusted I really could vomit...
Be merry! :-)