Once I Was a Washing Machine - Federation of Worker Writers

Federation of Worker Writers - Once I Was a Washing Machine (1989)
Poetry & Prose – 210 pages – my copy (paperback) bought from Oxfam Bookshop in Brighton during June 2012
#54 of 2011-12 / #175 of All Time
- 2 nods out of 5 -

Every once in a while in a book buyer’s life they will come across a golden title. Avid readers will browse the shelves of many book shops, pointing out names to one another that set off the funny bone; but rarely are book titles so instantly eye catching to propel the reader to open the chequebook. This book – Once I Was a Washing Machine – is one such instance when it had to be bought, no matter the content, the reading journey, or the final nod.

So, what is this book all about? As suggested by the heavy wording of the book’s editors – the Federation of Workers Writers – it is a collection of poetry and prose based on the real life experiences of those in the working class in Thatcher’s Britain. And is to be expected by a book published during the 1980s, much are complaints against the Tory government and inequality between the haves and the have nots.

The difference between the working class and other sections of society are continually referred to, in poems such as ‘Class’, and – of course – ‘Mrs Thatcher’. Here are a few sample first lines from poems: ‘I signed on the other day’ (from ‘Tweet Tweet’); ‘It’s all deserted now, redundant empty space. No welcome for the workers here – No welcome for them anywhere. Sold down the line to a giro’ (from ‘Turning the Tide’); ‘Sign on the dole, the queue as long as Sundays’ (from ‘Sign on the Dole’); ‘I am jobless, I am worthless, I am homeless. And you are not’ (from ‘Meat Sandwich’); and the rather gloomy: ‘Mother, you gave me life and rooted me, in the suffocation of a class system’ (from ‘Groping in the Dark’).

All of this – as can be expected – is rather depressing. Even when the class divide is not discussed, we have tales of broken love and families (as seen in the three line poem ‘Wedding Ring’: ‘Our love is like a circle / I turn to you / You turn away’). Much of the poetry is one dimensional; whilst many of the composers appear to be trying too hard with lines of pomposity, as can be found in ‘Our Precious Planet’ and in the words of ‘Tree’: ‘Listen to the whispering source / It spins dialectical cobwebs / Resilient as hawsers / It weaves re-creation / Listen!’

The prose on display (recollections from the past and stories) fare slightly better than the poems. The Worm enjoyed reading ‘Pub Ritual’ and ‘Where do we go from here?’, which notes the experiences of an illiterate man. But the Northern tint – as seen in poem titles such as ‘Barnsley 1984’ – repelled the Worm, rather than welcomed him. The Worm is no “southern fairy”, rather hailing from the westcountry, and therefore finds much of the north-south dialogue/argument rather tedious and tiring. However, there is enough on display to keep the reader interested, especially in a title like ‘An Unemployed Steelworker in the Middle of a Zebra Crossing Stealing A Diamond’ (surely, a contender to become title of the collection!).

As the Worm learnt – much to everyone’s annoyance – the reading aloud of these poems does little to gain applause. Many have not dated well (despite the clear links with today’s government and its blatant lie about us “all being in it together”). This was the Worm’s last read of his third book reading season; the content hardly justified this place as the last book before starting afresh once again. But as earlier noted, the title alone justifies its very presence on this blog and on the shelves of the Worm’s book collection.
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Once-Was-Washing-Machine-Experience/dp/0906411025

Writing For Comics - Alan Moore

Alan Moore – Writing For Comics (2010)
Graphic Novel related – 50 pages – my copy (paperback) bought from Dave’s Comics in Brighton during June 2012
#53 of 2011-12 / #174 of All Time
- 3 nods out of 5 -

Through decades of interesting and innovative work in the comic book field, Alan Moore has risen to deity-like status. Earlier this year the Worm reviewed Moore’s Watchmen and came to the sound conclusion that it was a 5 nodder read, and worthy of everyone’s time, attention and eyes. It is fitting, then, that Moore should give advice to other comic book writer wannabes.

Originally written in 1985, and later updated with an afterword in 2003, this brief book covers the basic ground for giving birth to a tangible and worthwhile idea. The central chapters include ‘The Basic Idea: Thinking About Comics’, ‘Reaching the Reader: Structure, Pacing, Story Telling’, and ‘The Details: Plot and Script’. But Moore is keen to stress that he is not supplying a painting-by-numbers guide to writing comic books, but rather tackling ‘the broader issue of how we might actually think about the craft of comic writing’.

This broader issue is debated throughout each chapter, with Moore highlighting the need for a writer to explore deeper issues, their own humanity and the world around them to create something worthy of a reader’s time, rather than ‘tepid, barely readable shit’ printed on ‘the most sophisticated laser scan techniques available’. Moore argues for the need for the writer and artist to maintain their freedom and integrity: ‘Take risks. Fear nothing, especially failure…As for posterity, don’t drive yourself mad worrying about that shit. It isn’t up to you. And anyway, when the Universe ends in ten billion years time it really isn’t going to be that important who was famous for how long’.

Such is the quirky, humorous and thought-provoking style of Moore’s pen, the book is a pleasure to read. More importantly, it is writing that is honest at its attempt to get to the heart of the matter:

‘Analyse your own fears thoroughly enough and you might be able to reach some conclusions about the broad mass of human fear and anxiety. Be ruthless about this, and submit yourself to as much emotional pain as is necessary to get the question answered: What horrifies me? Pictures of little kids starving Africa horrifies me. Why does it horrify me? It horrifies me because I can’t stand the thought of tiny children being born into a world of starvation and misery and horror and never knowing anything but hunger and pain and fear, never knowing that there could possibly be anything other than needing food as desperately as a suffocating man needs air, and never hearing anything but weeping and moaning and despair. Yeah, well, okay, but why can’t I stand that? I can’t stand that because I like to perceive the world as having some form of just and fair order, without which much of existence would seem meaningless, and I know that for those children there is no possibility of them perceiving the world in those terms. I also know that were I to be in their situation I wouldn’t be able to see any unifying design above the hunger and misery, either. So does that mean that there is no order, no point to existence, above all no point to my existence? Is that what scares the shit out of me every time I see all those fly-specced bellies on the six o’clock news? Yeah. Yeah, probably it is. What scares me is probably not what’s happening to them but what it implies concerning me. That isn’t a terribly easy noble thing to have to face up to, but it’s the sort of wringer that you have to put yourself through in order to have any valuable understanding of the material that you are working with.’

In the brief space of these fifty pages, Moore’s dialogue comprises a history of comic books, of references to film, to the theatre, and other art work; whilst providing examples from his own work, including Swamp Thing and Superman. By doing this he constantly dispels myths of the trade, including the whole “sum up a character in 15 words”: ‘While it’s certainly possible to sum up the character of Captain Ahab in a well turned phrase like “This insane amputee with a grudge against a whale,” Herman Melville obviously thought it appropriate to take slightly longer over the job’.

Undoubtedly the industry has moved on and progressed since the mid-1980s; however, Moore’s book is a great read on how a writer – be it comic book, novelist, or screenwriter – constructs a story. Moore’s own judgement on reading his advice years later was a modest ‘not that bad’. The Worm is more ready to heap on praise. But, of course, in Moore’s long career, praise is the one thing not in short supply.

Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Moores-Writing-Comics-Volume/dp/1592910122

Lunar Park - Bret Easton Ellis

Bret Easton Ellis – Lunar Park (2005)
Novel – 450 pages – my copy (paperback) bought from Waterstone’s on its paperback release in 2006
#52 of 2011-12 / #173 of All Time
- 4 nods out of 5 -

‘Hadn’t you once wanted to “see the worst”? the writer asked me.
Didn’t you once write that somewhere?
I might have. But I don’t want to anymore.
It’s too late, the writer said.’

Regular readers of this blog will by now realise the Worm’s attachment to the work of Bret Easton Ellis. Seemingly derided and applauded in equal measure, over the past three book-reading seasons the Worm has read three of Mr Ellis’ novels: his debut, Less Than Zero; his troublesome second novel, The Rules of Attraction; and his latest output, Imperial Bedrooms (see below for links to these reviews). With the current book-reading season soon coming to a close, the Worm could hear the gasps of a year spent without another Ellis review. But have no fear, Lunar Park is here.

Despite the Worm’s fondness for Ellis’s narrative style, previous reviews have been less than generous. Less Than Zero limped in with a severe 2 nods (something the Worm expresses regret about; surely a stable 3 nodder; although the concluding review comment was a supportive ‘Well worth the read’), whilst the other two novels hardly set this blog or the readers’ eyes on fire: and the Worm quotes himself on Imperial Bedrooms ‘a book of obvious limitations’; and on The Rules of Attraction a book best ‘left alone’. But Lunar Park is a different quantity altogether.

The novel is about the very writer himself, albeit in a parodied and hyped up version of himself. The first 50 pages surround his excess throughout the champagne days of the 1980s and 1990s: ‘There was also the money problem – I didn’t have any. I had blown it all. On what? Drugs. Parties that cost $50,000. Drugs. Girls who wanted to be taken to Italy, Paris, London, St. Barts. Drugs. A Prada wardrobe. A new Porsche. Drugs.’ Whilst there are humourus (fictionalised?) anecdotes from his Glamorama book tour: ‘E-mail memo #6: “15 miles southwest of Detroit writer was found hiding in back of stalled van on the median of a divided highway, picking at nonexistent scabs”…. E-mail memo #9: “Somehow writer has been tear gassed at anti-globalization demonstration in Chicago”… E-mail memo #13: “Berkley; angry drug dealer was found choking writer due to lack of payment in alley behind Barnes & Noble”…’

Ellis lampoons his own writing style and fame when discussing his latest working novel, Teenage Pussy. ‘Teenage Pussy would contain endless episodes of girls storming out of rooms in high-rise condos and the transcripts of cell phone conversations fraught with tension and camera crews following the main characters around as well as six or seven overdoses… There would be thousands of cosmopolitans ordered and characters camcording each other having anal sex…’ Such a description is surely the wet dream of Ellis’ legion of detractors.

This is all before he finds suburban security with a former (yes, fictionalised) lover, Jayne Dennis (Ellis even going as far as to commissioning a fake website for Dennis during the book’s initial publication). Middle age does nothing to quell Ellis’ grasp of the mania that surrounds him, especially the phobias in modern parenting and the angst of living in post 9/11 America:

‘…and there was something off about the obsession with their children that bordered on the fanatical. It wasn’t that they weren’t concerned about their kids, but they wanted something back, they wanted a return on their investment – this need was almost religious. It was exhausting to listen to and it was all so corrupt because it wasn’t making for happier children… These parents were scientists and were no longer raising their kids instinctually – everyone had read a book or watched a video or skimmed the Net to figure out what to do…. There were kids experiencing dizzy spells due to the pressure of elementary school and who were in alternative therapies, and there were ten-year-old boys with eating disorders caused by unrealistic body images. There were waiting lists filled with the names of nine-year-olds for acupuncture sessions with Dr. Wolper.’

But Lunar Park is so much more than a critique of society and culture; it is interesting in its interesting turn of events. The story becomes darker, with plot threads more akin to the genres of thriller, suspense, and horror. Such elements are rooted in American literary tradition; and nowhere more clearly than in the great work of Edgar Allan Poe: who himself had tales of disbelief, to make us question our surroundings and our selves. Ellis’ semi-autobiographical stance offers us this chance: ‘Regardless of how horrible the events described here might seem, there’s one thing you must remember as you hold this book in your hands: all of it really happened, every word is true.’

These plot strands surround a psychotic toy that kills horses, skins deer, and inserts itself into the anus of the family dog; a man who claims to be Patrick Bateman and is replicating murders from the book American Psycho; a menacing and ever present Porsche; and haunting images of his father, coming back from the dead. All of these surround Ellis’ very own neurosis and past; as Ellis writes: ‘this is what happened when you didn’t want to visit and confront the past: the past starts visiting and confronting you.’ All of this is woven into the book’s central relationship: that of father and son and grandfather; between Ellis, his father and his son – the fictional - Robby.

Yes, there are many negative features of this book: Ellis’ inability to show emotion and distress of characters other than have them cry (the fictionalised Ellis shedding tears continuously in almost every chapter in the second half of the book), as well as a sometimes awkward description style. But it is a triumph of ideas over the actual nuts and bolts of the words; as well as the author’s confronting of his own past to create a piece of work that doesn’t truly sit in any genre: fantasy, speculative, sci-fi, horror, autobiography. For this very reason, it is a book enthusiastically recommended for all readers to go out, buy and read. Step inside Mr Ellis’ world, “see the worst”, and “disappear here”.

Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lunar-Park-Bret-Easton-Ellis/dp/0330536338/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343424044&sr=8-1

Review of Less Than Zero:
http://4eyedbookworm.blogspot.com/2009/07/proto-bateman-less-than-zero-by-bret.html


Review of The Rules of Attraction:
http://4eyedbookworm.blogspot.com/2011/03/rules-of-attraction-bret-easton-ellis.html


Review of Imperial Bedrooms:
http://4eyedbookworm.blogspot.com/2010/10/imperial-bedrooms-bret-easton-ellis.html

Star Trek: Countdown - Johnson, Jones & Messina

Mike Johnson, Tim Jones & David Messina - Star Trek: Countdown (2009)
Graphic Novel – 110 pages – read during June 2012
#51 of 2011-12 / #172 of All Time
- 2 nods out of 5 -

In 2009 Star Trek returned to the big-time. After the ignominy of a cancelled series (the dull and insipid Enterprise) and a flop of a last movie (the much maligned – and some of it cruelly - Nemesis) it appeared Trekkies/Trekkers (delete where applicable) were to ready themselves for the fallow years ahead. However, J.J. Abrams glare covered film was a hit at the box-office, and looks set to spawn countless more adventures with a rebooted cast of the original core of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

And what better way than to cash in (cough-cough) on the rebirth of the “franchise” with a comic book run on a prequel to the events in the film. In four issues, Countdown relates just how the likes of the dastardly Nero ended up time-travelling to the past to fight a young Kirk. Beginning as an innocent miner who is concerned about an expanding super nova that threatens to destroy his home-world, he forms an unnatural alliance with an old Spock, and the Federation star-ship Enterprise that is now captained by Data. As happens with all plans, it goes horribly wrong, with Nero seeking vengeance for his destroyed planet, wife and – yes – unborn child. Meanwhile along the way, many of the main cast of the Next Generation make an appearance: Picard, who is now an ambassador on Vulcan; Worf is now a general of a Klingon ship, whilst Geordie LaForge is a star-ship designer (remember him, right?).

The writers of the comic – Tim Jones and Mike Johnson - noted their desire to tie in the two casts of the Original Series and the Next Generation. But rather than the passing of the baton, it shows as a passing along of the same old ideas and characters. Similar to many other Star Trek tie-ins (novels, comics, fan movies) storylines appear to suffer when they do not contain familiar faces, such as Kirk, Spock, Picard and Data. This is the very reason why the “franchise” (the Worm hates using this term) has returned to Kirk & Co. in the latest movie adventure, and the reason why this prequel series relies so heavily on Spock, on Picard, on Data, on Worf, and yes, even Mr LaForge.

Ultimately, these comics inspire little interest outside of the usual die-hard Star Trek anoraks. Not enough action and not enough drama: but of course, this is all to be saved for the film itself. And this is what it all boils down to, with this collection serving as a tie-in for financial gain, rather than a key story to tell. This shouldn’t detract from the art-work of David Messina, and the Worm admits the whole premise is a much better idea than the likes of a collaboration with Doctor Who in which Picard helps out to defeat the Cybermen; but ultimately, it all fails to enliven a sceptical Trekkie.

Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Trek-Countdown-Movie-Prequel/dp/184856435X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339109345&sr=8-1

Read the interview here:
http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2009/05/star-trek-countdown-interview/

On History - Eric Hobsbawm

Eric Hobsbawm – On History (1997)
History – 380 pages – my copy (paperback) bought from a Totnes bookshop sometime in 2007 and recently read in June 2012
#50 of 2011-12 / #171 of All Time
- 4 nods out of 5 -

At the grand age of ninety-five and with a great wealth of books behind him, Eric Hobsbawm is one of the world’s greatest living historians. Famous for his long held Marxist beliefs, as well as a tremendous series in world history (notably The Age of Revolution and The Age of Extremes, reviewed in this very blog two years ago), Hobsbawm’s great span of life itself has taken in many historical events of the past century: the rise and fall of the Nazis; the battle between the American and Soviet ideologies; the fall of Communism; the growth of terrorism; and the constant see-saw between boom and bust of the world economy.

It is fitting, then, for a historian well versed in history to publish a book on his thoughts on the subject of history. And so we have On History, a collection of essays gathered over a series of years and put into a collection in the 1990s. A dream come true, you may say, for a history buff. Let’s be clear, many articles have the power to send less enthused fans of history to sleep; most of these surround the question of economics, how historians can interpret and predict future economic events, as well as a dangerously high dose of Marxism. But with twenty-one essays on display, there is more than enough to compensate. These include Hobsbawm’s musings on how we picture the past (‘The Sense of the Past’), history’s role in helping society solve problems (‘What Can History Tell Us about Contemporary Society?’), on the commitment and bias of the historian (‘Partisanship’), interesting and enlightening commentary on the continent of Europe (‘The Curious History of Europe’), as well as a splendid and convincing debate about the possible of descent of “civilisation” into chaos (‘Barbarism: A User’s Guide’).

So, what snippets can the Worm glean from On History? In the space of 380 marked and poured over pages are debates on the key issues in history writing, including that on its abuses by present regimes misrepresenting the past in order to secure more support from the public (‘Outside and Inside History’). Later in the book, Hobsbawm writes: ‘History as inspiration and ideology has a built-in tendency to become self-justifying myth. Nothing is a more dangerous blindfold than this, as the history of modern nations and nationalisms demonstrates’. In a different essay, he comments: ‘history is a useful warning against confusing fashion with progress’. These are words of advice that would be well heeded by today’s society. Perhaps less than history, and more about philosophy of history: of change, of the past, the future, the present and how we represent all of these things in a bundle of paper for general readership. Hobsbawm is always searching to explain how mankind built society, how our civilisation became what it is, and how change will affect what we have.

For students, teachers and serious readers of history, this is a highly recommended read. This book, like so many other good books, offers a chance to pick the brains of one of the best in his field. You may turn your nose at this offering; but respect for Hobsbawm is universal.

Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-History-E-J-Hobsbawm/dp/0349110506

A Brief Gude to Star Trek - Brian J. Robb

Brian J. Robb - A Brief Guide to Star Trek (2011)
TV & Film – 280 pages – my copy (paperback) picked up from the Works in St Austell during May 2012 for £2.99
#49 of 2011-12 / #170 of All Time
- 2 nods out of 5 -

Trekkie or Trekker: what is the difference? For the “serious” fan of Star Trek – of which are in good company (see below) - the business of buying DVDs and fanzines is not one to be taken lightly. Trekkie is the mocking term; but Trekker is one in which the fan has the sleeves rolled up and is ready to leave the real world and enter the dimension to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Sci-fi has a long history of transfixing the Western world. A hundred years ago it was the novels of H.G. Wells; the 1950s spawned a generation glued to monster movies; whilst recent incarnations have become all the more sophisticated. Despite its now seeming comic beginnings, Star Trek has long prospered to stretch various TV series (the Worm recommends The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine), eleven and soon to be twelve Hollywood movies (recommended: The Wrath of Khan, The Undiscovered Country, and the recently rebooted Star Trek), as well as hundreds of novels and comics that have truly created a unique universe.

Modestly deemed ‘A Brief Guide’, this book actually spans close to three hundred pages. The author does a competent job of telling the story, from start to finish; beginning with the genesis of the idea in the brain of Gene Rodenberry, its shaky first series in the 1960s, cancellation, death and then rebirth via fan power in the 1970s. This revival explains the special relationship between Trekker and the “franchise” (the Worm apologies for using such a vacuous term), and why fans of the show have obtained a place in popular culture: either being celebrated, or as is much more likely, lampooned. All of the original cast movies are dealt with in an orderly fashion, with a chapter given to each succeeding series (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and the ill fated Enterprise).

Orderly is the key word here. Despite a close connection with Star Trek stretching back many years – including serving as editor on The Official Star Trek Magazine – Brian J. Robb never peels away the layers of the story. For example, much of the information has been gleamed from newspaper reports, with minimal quotation from the central players. Direct interviewing, comment, and the nitty gritty of getting to the heart of the story was perhaps beyond the remit from the publishers when they set on their ‘Brief Guide’; but it all has the feel of reading a dry Wikipedia article, rather than glimpsing into an author’s true thoughts and feelings. Opportunity knocks with this book: written on the recent trend of Star Trek becoming officially cool once more with its blockbuster reboot from 2009. This is seen clearly in the book’s opening paragraph when the author writes in a world in which readers have already seen ‘J.J. Abrams blockbuster movie from 2009 or the sequel’: at this time of writing, in July 2012, the sequel has still not been released.

The future of Star Trek looks assured; a statement that would have seemed slightly far fetched in uttered a mere seven or eight years ago after the flops that were Enterprise and the last Picard film, Nemesis. More adventures will be told, and the knock on effects will be ever more reading material. This book will capture the interest of the serious fans – the Trekkers – without bothering the hearts of the many Trekkies. This is just as well; the world can keep its ‘Brief Guide’ as the Worm waits for something more substantial and bold.

* Trekkers are in good company. Fans of the show are an eclectic and rather fantastic bunch, including Frank Sinatra, Barack Obama, Tom Hanks, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Eddie Murphy, Stephen Hawking, Seth MacFarlane, Alex Salmond and Martin Luther King.

Buy it here:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-Guide-Star-Trek/dp/1849015147

My Grammar And I - Caroline Taggart & J.A. Wines

Caroline Taggart & J.A. Wines – My Grammar And I (Or Should That Be ‘Me’?) (2011)
English Language – 190 pages – my copy (paperback) picked up from The Works in St Austell during May 2012 for £1.99.
#48 of 2011-12 / #169 of All Time
- 2 nods out of 5 -

The last few years have seen an explosion of books cashing in on the Christmas and birthday market that hark back on various reminiscent themes. To give a taste, this very book’s publishers are also the home to bland book titles such as I Used to Know That, as well as Remember, Remember: The Fifth of November. The Worm is not a fan of such books; but yet, the Worm read this very edition of My Grammar And I. How did such odd turn of events take shape?

The Worm has a confession: grammar is a particularly poor spot on his list of skills. Regular readers of this blog may have long been frustrated by the various “typos” on display (the polite term, of course, is “typo”; when we all know the real word should be “mistake”). The Worm had problems with the difference between noun and verb, let alone the arrival of other terms: pronoun, adjective, or heaven forbid, preposition! But yet a return to such grammatical terms was needed. No, it wasn’t a matter of life or death, but a question of money (but that, dear reader, is – as they say – another story).

The writers of this slim volume – Taggart and Wines – are the perfect hosts to reacquaint the reader with rules and regulations long since banished from the brain. Rather than be strict disciplinarians, they have fun along the way exposing the ridiculousness of the many conflicting rules in English language. Only if such a manner could be utilised in schools today; or perhaps, appreciation of English language, its subtleties and bizarre functions, perhaps may only be realised in the later decades of life.

Under two hundred pages the reader is given a whistle stop tour of the main parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation and the continuing battle to get to grips with the present and past tenses (especially when using bamboozling terms such as present perfect, present continuous, present simple, present perfect continuous!). It all sounds rather tiresome, but never before has the Worm had a page turner of a book on grammar. The authors, as stated previously, enjoy poking holes into these once seen rigid rules; as shown in the plethora of puns: ‘Definitely indefinite’ and ‘Demonstrate your determination (or, Determiners)’ being just two chapter titles. This short book is filled with interesting facts and a play on language that even the most grammatically opposed of us all – the Worm once being in this camp – can enjoy a reading of these pages.

This is a recommended read for anyone thinking of flirting once more with the grammatical rules of English language. Of course, it will not change your life: but it may very well help give you a fresh outlook on the words we use, their power, their structure, and – perhaps – their very own pointlessness. From this point onwards, the Worm will have to keep a close eye on his sentences; Taggart and Wines would desire no less.*


Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Grammar-Should-That-Old-School/dp/1843176572/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342376471&sr=8-2


* For those who spot typos in the article, you can send your grievances to the email address: theWormcaresnotafig@yahoo.com

Prufrock and Other Observations - T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot – Prufrock and Other Observations (1917)
Poetry – my copy downloaded and read on my Kindle during June 2012
#47 of 2011-12 / #168 of All Time
- 4 nods out of 5 –

T.S. Eliot is a man who strikes polarising views: genius or charlatan; talented poet or fraud. He is famous for his modernist, stream of consciousness verse as displayed in the complex, mysterious and fantastic The Wasteland. This collection is one of his earliest; on show are twelve short poems, including the famous The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Published some 95 years ago, the collection still has the power to divide and to shock. For example, take a look at the readers reviews on Amazon; one 5 star review states it ‘is a delightful read for all poetry lovers’, whilst one 1 star review calls Eliot a ‘pretentious and shallow poet’. Both of these readers – one star struck, the other disgruntled – comment on Eliot’s ability to detail ‘ordinary scenes viewed in extraordinary ways’ or to make ‘very little sound quite big and important’.

The majority of this collection are rather short poems, including Morning at the Window (two verses); the modest The Boston Evening Transcript; Aunt Helen (one verse); Cousin Nancy (three verses); Mr Apollinax (one longer verse, and with the rather bizarre and fantastic line: ‘He laughed like an irresponsible fœtus’); Hysteria (one verse of connected stream of consciousness); Conversation Galante (three short verses); and La Figlia che Piange (again, three short verses). But we are always told it is about quality, not quantity: and this short collection contains a few gems for all readers to tuck into. These include Rhapsody on a Windy Night, Portrait of a Lady and the greatest of all, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Prufrock is a fine display of Eliot’s then developing calling card: free verse written in a stream of consciousness. It was a style he would later perfect – in the Worm’s own humble opinion – with The Wasteland. Yet in Prufrock we can see the poet closer to the real world, of the city, of people, of life on the ground floor; rather than the epic disconnection and collapse of The Wasteland. The Worm does not interpret it as a love affair with a woman, but rather a love affair with the narrator’s losing grip of youth, commenting on the passing of his life: ‘For I have known them all already, known them all / Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons / I have measured out my life with coffee spoons’. Allow the Worm to quote the first verse:

‘Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question…

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit.

And later in the poem:

‘And indeed there will be time

For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,

Rubbing its back upon the window panes;

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That life and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of toast and tea.’

Before ending on a somewhat ominous note:

‘We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.’

Undoubtedly, these lines are difficult to interpret; but the words clearly portray the narrator’s frustration with life. Age is slipping away – as referenced by the narrator’s bald spot – lamenting the wasted days and hours and months and years. The noting of playing the Fool hints at the lack of control of his own destiny, a theme also alluded to in the work of Eliot’s modernist contemporaries, including Joyce and Woolf. Such uncertainty can be connected to the despair felt in the second decade of the twentieth century: world war, millions killed, the collapse of the old world; the rise of political extremes and ensuing alienation. Such alienation can be further found in Preludes:

‘You tossed a blanket from the bed,

You lay upon your back, and waited;

You dozed, and watched the night revealing

The thousand sordid images

Of which your soul was constituted;

They flickered against the ceiling.’

It is all too easy to dismiss Eliot as a snob, out of sorts with modern life. The poet is bound to street life, as evidenced by the constant description of street lamps providing a rhythm to the lines: ‘Every street lamp that I pass / Beats like a fatalistic drum’ (Rhapsody of a Windy Night). This resignation to the wait of the changing world hints at our inability to escape our destiny, and alongside the modernist movement, Eliot also provides Naturalistic undertones.

Yes, Eliot is dealing with the ordinary: but it is what lurks beneath the ordinary that is so exciting and compelling. This is human nature, and how we interact with one another. It this ability to dig deeper into how the world operates that sets poets and writers apart from the majority of human beings. It is more than obvious that T.S. Eliot has this gift.

The Worm has long been in conflict over the merits of Eliot’s work. However, it must be clear to the most hostile reader that this poet has talent and ability. Furthermore, perhaps due to the stream of consciousness nature, these poems are wonderful to read aloud; something the Worm strongly recommends – nay, commands! For those who want order, they will need to look elsewhere. Eliot’s world is not one for the faint hearted. It is for those who wish adventure and those looking, to quote the Monty Python team, for something completely different.

Read it here:http://www.bartleby.com/198/
Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prufrock-Other-Observations-Poet-Essential/dp/0571207200

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving

Washington Irving – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)
Short Story – my copy downloaded and read on my Kindle during June 2012
#46 of 2011-12 – #167 of All Time
- 2 nods out of 5 -

The Worm’s first introduction to Washington Irving was many moons ago whilst reading Joseph Heller’s era defining novel, Catch-22. The novel’s central character, the dynamic and eccentric Yossarian, censors letters and signs them under the name of Washington Irving, before moving onto Irving Washington before boredom sets in. As for the writer himself, Irving garners less attention then might have been expected when living in his early nineteenth century hey-day.

Irving once stood at the top of the queue of American literature; but since his time many other writers – such as the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, a younger contemporary – have pushed ahead, building stronger, longer lasting relationships. Irving, it appears, is left to fend for the surviving crumbs of literary adoration. But yet some of his own stories have snowballed to become greater legends. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the prime example. Reinterpreted and shot time and again for the big screen (most memorably in recent times in Tim Burton’s and Johnny Depp’s adaption from a decade ago), the story retains a resonance with American audiences. The setting is in the revolutionary period, when the continent appeared a more daunting, quizzical and dangerous place.

The story follows the events of Ichabod Crane – a different prospect to the Depp incarnation in the recent movie version. Crane competes with the energetic Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt for the hand of the beautiful eighteen year-old Katrina Van Tassel. Crane meets his end on walking home from a party, when he is confronted by the ghost of a revolutionary war casualty: the Headless Horseman. Crane disappears off the face of the earth, and this results in Brom Bones marrying the younger girl. The ending remains ambiguous; although it is strongly hinted that the Headless Horseman was not a spiteful ghost, but rather Brom Bones himself.

Despite its limited remit, the story remains a bona fide American classic; first printed in 1820, it remains immersed in the national consciousness some two hundred years later. But for readers from elsewhere – yes, the bulk majority of us – it is a read best avoided. Although a brief read, it rarely excites the modern reader. The “classic” factor, of reading such an influential story, is much more the greater reason to touch this story; collecting the stamp, as it were, rather than posting the letter. Washington Irving, it would seem, remains in the shadow of other American greats. On this evidence, Edgar Allan Poe has nothing to worry about.

Read it here:
http://www.bartleby.com/310/2/2.html/

Hulk: The End - Peter David & Dale Keown

Peter David & Dale Keown – Hulk: The End (2002)
Graphic Novel – my copy downloaded (50 pages) during June 2012
#45 of 2011-12 – #166 of All Time
- 3 nods out of 5 -

The recent success of The Avengers - titled, somewhat annoyingly, Avengers Assemble in the United Kingdom – has brought the green titan that is the Hulk to a brand new audience. Yes, sure, there have been other recent big screen portrayals, including 2003’s Hulk of (‘Don’t make me Ang Lee’, geddit?), as well as the mis-titled The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton. The latest incarnation in this year’s superhero blockbuster has taken the Hulk in a more promising direction, and the Worm warmly applauds this.

The Hulk is one of comics’ best characters: the haunted intelligence of Bruce Banner, juxtaposed with the smashing menace of the green skinned beast. Rarely are these characters portrayed in complex terms; but yet Stan Lee’s creation continues the literary continuity of dual personalities stretching back deep into our past. The closest similarity is, perhaps, that with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: a lethal cocktail of brains and brawn. It is the reason why the Hulk has remained so popular with comic reading and film going audiences.

This one-off showing of the Hulk is set in a future in which everyone on the planet has been killed in a - wait for it - nuclear holocaust. The Hulk, now in interestingly aged form with grey hair, has survived due to his near-on indestructable nature, left to bounder across the world. The action is split with the wandering, old figure of Banner: alive, only because of the Hulk’s insistence on them remaining in existence.

The writer Peter David, and the art team of Dale Keown (illustration), Joe Weems (inker) and Dan Kemp (colourist) create a world of horror, in which Banner is defeated yet forced to continue walking the earth, and in which the Hulk himself is attacked and pecked to smithereens by a swarm of large, killer bugs. The story is cleverly interwoven by both the Hulk and Banner able to watch the other due to the involvement of a floating video-bot that captures humanity’s last throw of the dice.

The duo remain in conflict: the Hulk wanting to rid himself of Banner who he deems weak and pitiful; and Banner wishing to be allowed to die to rid himself of this nightmare. The story comes to a climax as Banner suffers a heart attack and is finally allowed to pass away. The Hulk is left to announce his triumphant in defeating all of his enemies, including Banner. But loneliness now surrounds him: ‘Hulk…only one there is…Hulk feels…cold.’ It hints at his need to have Banner within him, as the two have co-existed in a long, ongoing struggle. Again, this akin to Jekyll and Hyde, to Batman and the Joker, to Bert and Ernie, and to give a modern political comparison, to Cameron and Miliband.

Hulk fans will undoubtedly enjoy this comic; and its brevity is fit for an afternoon’s reading. It captures more of the Hulk than in previous films, and this includes the recent Avengers film. A future solo Hulk film will hopefully make more of the conflict between the two central protagonists: it has been the key ever since Stan Lee created this special character many, many moons ago.

Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Hulk-Marvel-Premiere-Classic/dp/0785130268