[ilds] Durrell pastiche

[Marc Piel]

Could Aubrey be of the same family as Alan?

slighcl a écrit :
> 
>> *The Times (South Africa)
>> http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Lifestyle/Article.aspx?id=811413
>> Book of the week
>> The Interloper by H Parker, Ihilihili Press, R140 ��� *
>>
>> Jacana, David Phillips and Jonathan Ball are obviously sleeping on the 
>> job if books like this have to rely on unknown brands like the 
>> Ihilihili Press for publication.
>>
>> The merest hint of self- publication can cast a stain across any 
>> title, yet The Interloper is one of the best and most versatile South 
>> African literary novels I have read.
>>
>> Unsuccessful writer Heather dies before her time and, while in Limbo, 
>> is invited to join a writers circle comprising Charlotte and Anne 
>> Bronte, Katherine Mansfield and Olive Schreiner: with their help she 
>> is determined to complete her magnum opus.
>>
>> Inspired to write a �factional� work on her family history, Heather is 
>> guided not only by her four female mentors but also by a supernatural 
>> entity she calls �The Interloper�, who makes it possible for her to 
>> examine her family�s past and her own youth as well.
>>
>> Family trees, genealogical notes and oral histories form much of the 
>> book; there have been embellishments and romanticisations over the 
>> years but Heather has taken pains to discover the unvarnished truth 
>> about her forebears.
>>
>> This truth is interspersed with *excellent literary pastiches of 
>> writers as diverse as Jane Austen and Lawrence Durrell,* Salman 
>> Rushdie and James Joyce, while her daily life in Limbo is described 
>> with subtle nods to musical poets like Leonard Cohen.
>>
>> Firmly rooted in Cape Town, beloved mistress and hated backdrop to 
>> this family history, where the atheistic Heather tries to understand 
>> the motivations behind the actions of her devoutly Catholic Irish 
>> ancestors, The Interloper challenges many of our preconceptions about 
>> �the Mother City�.
>>
>> Despite the whimsical notion of Limbo, the author�s somewhat 
>> misinformed ideas about modern Catholic belief, the fantastical 
>> initial premise, and the incredibly irritating spelling and 
>> grammatical errors , The Interloper is a wonderful book .
>>
>> History, politics, society and religion all have an essential part in 
>> this beautifully written work of fiction that both enhances and 
>> debunks the ideal of Cape Town as the caring cultural capital, and the 
>> role the English played in enhancing its liberal European status. � 
>> Aubrey Paton
> 
> 
> -- 
> **********************
> Charles L. Sligh
> Department of English
> Wake Forest University
> slighcl at wfu.edu
> **********************
> 
> 
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