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Positioning himself as autobiographer, literary critic and pianist,
James Holden presents an homage to Marcel Proust's A la recherche
du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). "One night I came across
the recording of a piano work that I had composed whilst still at
school. The strange thing was, I had no recollection of it
whatsoever. As I sat and listened to it, it revealed to me, or so
it seemed, a self that I had no connection with and a past that I
had not lived." In Search of Vinteuil is an attempt to gain access
to all of the lost and impossible experiences the music piece
pointed towards. ... A first critical act is to turn to the
passages in Proust's long novel that deal with music, focusing in
particular on the descriptions of the fictional composer Vinteuil's
'Sonata for piano and violin' and 'Septet'. Analysis reveals the
role of memory in musical appreciation, and music's ability to lay
before us different worlds. Armed with this engagement, literary
tools emerge to understand this personal, uncanny experience and
how to respond to it. After an original critical response to both
Proust's novel, and classical works where themes of memory, lost
chances, music and piano predominate, James Holden moves from the
role of literary critic to amateur pianist, as he describes his
first proper return to the keyboard in almost a decade and his
hesitant steps towards the composition of a new work. This musical
experience finally promises to bring out the psychological
mechanisms inherent in the acts of listening to and playing music.
... This highly original and compelling work represents a
significant contribution to literary scholarship.
Questions and Answers is a collection of thirteen contemporary
stories about relationships: the love, sex, longing, betrayal,
euphoria, pain, pleasure, comprehension and incomprehension that we
have all at one time experienced. They are love stories but,
unusually perhaps, they are mostly written from a male perspective:
Dan in 'Highlands' runs away from a cycle of failed love-affairs to
the mountains of Ethiopia; Robbie in 'Bleed' struggles with the
complexity of an indistinct relationship; Finn in 'Favourites'
blurs the line between friends and lovers; Sam in 'Cracks in the
wall' experiences the fragility of love; the protagonist in 'The
menu' considers the consequences of infidelity. In all
relationships there are questions and answers but - like people in
relationships and those in these short stories - they are not
necessarily connected to each other.
King Arthur has rested in Avalon for 1500 years, destined to return
in Britain's hour of need. Francis Drake also vowed that at the
sounding of his drum he would return when the nation's freedom is
threatened..... Their hour has come. Britain's two European
Commissioners have conceived a plot to seize power and turn the
Island of the Mighty into Europe's rubbish bin. To complete the
coup and ensure the country will fall, their Private Secretaries
steal the ravens from the Tower of London. Twins, Jess and Max,
help the returning heroes make sense of a much altered world and
join them in their quest to save the country and their people once
again as they did of old.... Destiny is awakened!
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