tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post4354630185060126176..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: Defining Britain and Brick LaneBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-69910106340601812922007-11-20T20:23:00.000+00:002007-11-20T20:23:00.000+00:00What about Hutton's The State We're In? A great an...What about Hutton's The State We're In? A great analysis - and almost recent - and very British ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-38426001719820062302007-11-20T17:01:00.000+00:002007-11-20T17:01:00.000+00:00I don't know if you read this article by Sarfraz M...I don't know if you read this article by Sarfraz Manzoor, Bryan. He says what I'm trying to say much better.<BR/><BR/>http://www.sarfrazmanzoor.co.uk/articles/index.php?id=5<BR/><BR/>~Pali~Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-60837531361707958002007-11-20T16:57:00.000+00:002007-11-20T16:57:00.000+00:00I didn't mean you had misunderstood the novel or t...I didn't mean you had misunderstood the novel or treated it like a piece of sociology or anthropology Bryan, I was speaking generally. It is quite incredible that a tiny number of pompous 'protestors' could have cast such a long shadow over this novel, film and most of all over Monica Ali, and I think that the media places writers like her in an invidious position, as being in some way a 'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-91712254950631811362007-11-20T16:53:00.000+00:002007-11-20T16:53:00.000+00:00Quite right, Pali, but I don't write headlines and...Quite right, Pali, but I don't write headlines and standfirstsBryan Appleyardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-49891223809202298742007-11-20T16:46:00.000+00:002007-11-20T16:46:00.000+00:00Check the headline and introduction to the article...Check the headline and introduction to the article Bryan.<BR/><BR/>~Pali~Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-35882232140239961372007-11-20T07:56:00.000+00:002007-11-20T07:56:00.000+00:00You appear to have read a different article, PaliYou appear to have read a different article, PaliBryan Appleyardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-36000747340767394182007-11-20T02:45:00.000+00:002007-11-20T02:45:00.000+00:00I think you do a slight disservice to Monica Ali i...I think you do a slight disservice to Monica Ali in that interview by characterising Brick Lane as a book that offers a 'piercing' look at British Islam. It's so reductionist to represent this novel as being a kind of tract with an agenda, treating it as an 'expose of hidden lives', as if it was first and foremost a sociological primer. It's far more complex and manifold than that.<BR/><BR/>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-90217465238630476382007-11-19T21:18:00.000+00:002007-11-19T21:18:00.000+00:00Hey Brit, it isn't 1984 yet, but it's heading ther...Hey Brit, it isn't 1984 yet, but it's heading there. You'll no doubt be dead of cricket-related injuries by the time it's on us, lucky sod.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-7539264529036632812007-11-19T18:02:00.000+00:002007-11-19T18:02:00.000+00:00I'd suggest that anyone who looks at modern Britai...I'd suggest that anyone who looks at modern Britain and thinks that such horrors as Nectar Cards and High Street CCTV prove that 1984 was 'appallingly prescient' needs to go for a nice lie down.<BR/><BR/>I'd nominate:<BR/><BR/>1066 And All That<BR/>Delia Smith's How to Cook Vol 1<BR/>'Because Britain Deserves Better' - New Labour's 1997 General Election Manifesto<BR/>Diary of a Nobody<BR/>The GodBrithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-19547395561646205922007-11-19T10:26:00.000+00:002007-11-19T10:26:00.000+00:001984 really does seem appallingly prescient.John l...1984 really does seem appallingly prescient.<BR/><BR/>John le Carre's novels chart the disparity between an idealised sense of English heroism, and the actual grubbiness & betrayal, e.g. The Looking Glass War.<BR/><BR/>i find it depressing that the only living novelists i really like are American or Canadian, though i did enjoy Amis' Money (but that's a generation ago now).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-24420015895852220032007-11-18T17:25:00.000+00:002007-11-18T17:25:00.000+00:00I was wondering about the choice of Ikea. Why not ...I was wondering about the choice of Ikea. Why not Conran? Not that I really know much about either. I visited an Ikea store once. Looked at a Conran catalog once many years ago, too.Randyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03071928294799081845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-72918941541536725422007-11-18T15:05:00.000+00:002007-11-18T15:05:00.000+00:00don't do anymore ''essential'' lists. ;oPdon't do anymore ''essential'' lists. ;oPIan russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106519805045337505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-8896701922235741412007-11-18T13:54:00.000+00:002007-11-18T13:54:00.000+00:00A list we could argue about all night, I guess. No...A list we could argue about all night, I guess. Nothing on nature and the English landscape (as distinct from natural science and Pevsner on buildings); nothing on the sea, one of the greatest influences of all; nothing on sturdy independence of the Rural Rides kind or even Tom Hodgkinson's How to be Idle kind; and nothing on the bawdy, vulgar colours of English humour unless one counts Jordan asMarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-15629557663222009322007-11-18T12:03:00.000+00:002007-11-18T12:03:00.000+00:00Granted we colonials are usually a generation behi...Granted we colonials are usually a generation behind in recognizing the reality of Britain, but shouldn't the list include at least one whimsical celebration of that English eccentricity that has no parallel anywhere? Something from Wodehouse or perhaps <I>Love in a Cold Climate</I>? Or did Blair abolish eccentricity too?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-80092614586241405492007-11-18T11:36:00.000+00:002007-11-18T11:36:00.000+00:00Bill Bryson's Notes from a small island was reason...Bill Bryson's <EM>Notes from a small island</EM> was reasonably well read, and does actually define Britain in a literal sense. Published in 1996, though, so looks like it may have been slightly forgotten.Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-21244828140652288532007-11-18T09:54:00.000+00:002007-11-18T09:54:00.000+00:00Ha! Glad you managed to slip Marilynne in to the A...Ha! Glad you managed to slip Marilynne in to the Ali interview.Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-29548730929244281572007-11-18T09:10:00.000+00:002007-11-18T09:10:00.000+00:00My first thought is, impossible task - books that ...My first thought is, impossible task - books that define Britain? Looking at your list Bryan I feel you feel the same. Just off to walk the dogs over the rain washed hills and to ponder.Richard Havershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309594787689405779noreply@blogger.com