Covering the period 1830 to 1901, this is a treasure chest. It not only contains a huge sampling of both prose and poetry, but places them into an historical context.
The introduction to the book gives the reader a broad sweep of what was going on in those seventy odd years (such as the decline of Victorian values, industrialisation, suffrage), and several mini essays throughout provide introductions to the writers and their concerns.
The samples work well: a section from Hard Times convinced me to read the full novel, and I discovered a wonderful essay by George Eliot. Highly recommended.
I am currently experimenting with writing articles of exactly 100 words in length. This is one of them.
You could be forgiven for thinking that all that has been said, or needed to be said, about Anne Frank had already been said, given the number of books, articles and even a play that have been written about her. And yet in some ways she has never been more relevant.
How did the English comedian Spike Milligan break through writer’s block?
At first glance, this book's table of contents seems puzzling. Despite running to nearly 500 pages, Frank seems to be using fewer than 50 different novels to represent a hundred years of literary evolution — but appearances can be deceptive.
The style is plain and simple, and all the more powerful for that, and I like the sense of foreboding.
Context is given regarding the manner in which the interviews were conducted, and there is a great deal of nuance regarding the concept of “bystanders” vs “perpetrators”.
Although I’ve been writing for donkeys’ years, I’ve never written anything for radio.
The style is plain and simple, and all the more powerful for that.
The book includes the obituary writer who can hardly wait for his subjects to drop dead so that he can at last see his work in print.