James Wood and Lockerbie Here�s yet another lon…
James Wood and Lockerbie
Here�s yet another long, thought-provoking book review by James Wood. In this one, he compares Raymond Carver�s stories with the less minimalist postmodernism prevalent in the US at the moment. He says they �are actually holding friendly hands with each other behind their backs�. In particular, the review is of an obscure Canadian short story writer called Alistair Macleod. Wood is very generous despite the sheer awfulness of the impression he gives of the work. He has this knack of talking about particulars and generalities at the same time. It means one learns about literature, rather than merely reading opinionated gossip, which is what passes for reviewing in the press nowadays. Perhaps this is why Wood doesn�t review much in his native country anymore. And he also seems to be easing away from the Amis-like lacy prose that got in the way when he did, which is a relief.
The other thing I wanted to link to was this review of a revealing book about the Lockerbie disaster in 1988. Why aren�t the facts discussed here common knowledge? I knew it was a show trial in Holland, but not to this extent. The silence in the corporate media is why, as Chomsky said in that radio broadcast, Hitler and Stalin admired it so much.
Other SpikeMagazine.com posts of interest:
- Henry James Wood and Variations
- A Certain Stupidity
- Wood, Franzen, Delillo Each time The New Republ…
- James Wood & John Banville on Herzog
- Irrelevant intensity
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