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'Sympathetic and wonderfully perceptive . . . a heartbreaking read'
NICK COHEN, Critic 'Wise, witty and empathetic . . . outstanding'
JIM CRACE 'A fascinating treatment of the age-old problem of
writers and drink which displays the same subtle qualities as
William Palmer's own undervalued novels' D. J. TAYLOR An 'enjoyable
exploration of an enduringly fascinating subject . . . [Palmer] is
above all a dispassionate critic, and is always attentive to, and
unwaveringly perceptive about the art of his subjects as well as
their relationship with alcohol . . . [his] treatment is
even-handed and largely without judgement. He tries to understand,
without either condoning or censuring, the impulses behind often
reprehensible behaviour' SOUMYA BHATTACHARYA, New Statesman 'A
vastly absorbing and entertaining study of this ever-interesting
subject' ANDREW DAVIES, screenwriter and novelist 'In Love with
Hell is a fascinating and beautifully written account of the lives
of eleven British and American authors whose addiction to alcohol
may have been a necessary adjunct to their writing but ruined their
lives. Palmer's succinct biographies contain fine descriptions of
the writers, their work and the times they lived in; and there are
convincing insights into what led so many authors to take to
drink.' PIERS PAUL READ Why do some writers destroy themselves by
drinking alcohol? Before our health-conscious age it would be true
to say that many writers drank what we now regard as excessive
amounts. Graham Greene, for instance, drank on a daily basis
quantities of spirits and wine and beer most doctors would consider
as being dangerous to his health. But he was rarely out of control
and lived with his considerable wits intact to the age of
eighty-six. W. H. Auden drank the most of a bottle of spirits a
day, but also worked hard and steadily every day until his death.
Even T. S. Eliot, for all his pontifical demeanour, was extremely
fond of gin and was once observed completely drunk on a London Tube
station by a startled friend. These were not writers who are
generally regarded as alcoholics. 'Alcoholic' is, in any case, a
slippery word, as exemplified by Dylan Thomas's definition of an
alcoholic as 'someone you dislike who drinks as much as you.' The
word is still controversial and often misunderstood and misapplied.
What acclaimed novelist and poet William Palmer's book is
interested in is the effect that heavy drinking had on writers, how
they lived with it and were sometimes destroyed by it, and how they
described the whole private and social world of the drinker in
their work. He looks at Patrick Hamilton ('the feverish magic that
alcohol can work'); Jean Rhys ('As soon as I sober up I start
again'); Charles Jackson ('Delirium is a disease of the night');
Malcolm Lowry ('I love hell. I can't wait to go back there'); Dylan
Thomas ('A womb with a view'); John Cheever ('The singing of the
bottles in the pantry'); Flann O'Brien ('A pint of plain is your
only man'); Anthony Burgess ('Writing is an agony mitigated by
drink'); Kingsley Amis ('Beer makes you drunk'); Richard Yates
('The road to Revolutionary Road'); and Elizabeth Bishop ('The
writer's writer's writer').
The Good Republic is an unnamed Baltic state. Its geography is
important, sandwiched, for a hellish part of the twentieth-century,
between two totalitarian behemoths, Nazi Germany and Communist
Russia. The central character of the novel is Jacob Balthus, a sort
of Everyman, neither hero nor villain, but, in the end, a tragic
victim of the two tyrannies that, at different times, overran his
country.
""
""This was William Palmer's first novel published in 1990. It
was timely then, and because of its subtle and profound handling of
perennial moral issues, is no less timely now. For those of us
living in less turbulent times and in countries unused to invasion,
it forces the uncomfortable question, 'What would I have
done?'.
""
""The novel rightly attracted thoughtful, enthusiastic, and
slightly conflicting reviews on publication.
""
""'Palmer is a master of his complex material. The Baltic
country itself - the capital with its Old Town and Jewish Shops,
the coast with its pine-fringes and little islands - is palpably
there, and makes the moral drama of Jacob and his associates the
more compelling. ' Paul Binding, "Independent "
""
'The Good Republic is a powerful work ... It is not, however, an
uplifting tale. One is left with the conviction that the good
republic can be defined as that which leaves its citizens to tend
to their own vanities, trivialities and banalities. As Mr Palmer
notes in the narrative: ''The Chinese say it is a curse: 'May you
live in interesting times.' '' Jonas Bernstein, "Washington Times"
""
""
"'"The achievement of the novel lies in the forgiveness it
insists upon. Jacob does immense harm. But he is gentle and
vulnerable. His anguished prevarications make him infinitely more
likeable than the stronger and more principled characters who use
and betray him. Jacob, too, is one of the victims of history.'
Dinah Birch, "The Times "
Working as a news photographer in 1930s Berlin, Walther Klinger
becomes, by a vicious twist of fate, a society photographer for the
new aristocracy of the Nazi party. Walther's complicity makes him
increasingly cynical and guilty, so that, for him, the coming of
the war is almost a relief.
'Absorbing ... an eminently successful cautionary tale about the
function and possible dangerous malfunctions of Art.' Patrick Skene
Catling, "Spectator"
""
'A persuasive tale of sex and Nazism (love and its negation), as
well as an intriguing argument about the adequacy of images to
carry the truth of what they portray ... Palmer painstakingly
reveals a sadly cruel and believable vision.' Tom Deveson, "Sunday
Times"
""
'William Palmer's excellent fourth novel ... is an impressive
study of the effect of totalitarianism on the average emotional
life.' D. J. Taylor, "Independent "
Four Last Things is a collection of short stories, a brilliant
collection of short stories. There is nothing of the occasional
here, nothing of the secondary, these short fictions rank not just
with William Palmer's own novels but with the best work in this
medium over the last fifty years. In the title story, the longest,
Cornelius Marten, an ageing, forgotten, booze-sozzled author
reviews his life in the company of a young researcher and his
girlfriend. Updating the Christian Catechism for our secular age,
he enumerates the four last things as being: First Love,
Friendship, Betrayal and Death. He takes each of these as hooks
upon which to hang reminisces of his past. He resurrects his first
lover, his closest friend, his early poetry and his wartime job, in
each case releasing memories of pain and betrayal and
unsatisfactory conclusions. The final story, Performance,
Performance, is the shortest. To say it is based on the great jazz
saxophonist Coleman Hawkins only allows this copywriter to show
off. The name of the musician doesn't matter, in a mere six pages a
perfect distillation of the creative temperament is conjured. Not
only should it appear in all Jazz anthologies, it should appear in
all anthologies of short stories, it is fautless. 'On the strength
of his previous books, it was to be expected that Palmer would
produce something exceptional in the realm of the short story. The
depth and eloquence of this fine collection, however, might
surprise even the most ardent admirers of his novels. He revels in
character and language, in the gradual, intricate revelation of
plot-lines and themes ...' Paul Sussman, Independent on Sunday 'The
strength of these robustly elliptical stories is that, in other
hands, they might have been stretched into novels, even adequate
novels but certainly not as haunting.' Christopher Hawtree,
Independent
'Sympathetic and wonderfully perceptive . . . a heartbreaking read'
NICK COHEN, Critic 'Wise, witty and empathetic . . . outstanding'
JIM CRACE 'A fascinating treatment of the age-old problem of
writers and drink which displays the same subtle qualities as
William Palmer's own undervalued novels' D. J. TAYLOR An 'enjoyable
exploration of an enduringly fascinating subject . . . [Palmer] is
above all a dispassionate critic, and is always attentive to, and
unwaveringly perceptive about the art of his subjects as well as
their relationship with alcohol . . . [his] treatment is
even-handed and largely without judgement. He tries to understand,
without either condoning or censuring, the impulses behind often
reprehensible behaviour' SOUMYA BHATTACHARYA, New Statesman 'A
vastly absorbing and entertaining study of this ever-interesting
subject' ANDREW DAVIES, screenwriter and novelist 'In Love with
Hell is a fascinating and beautifully written account of the lives
of eleven British and American authors whose addiction to alcohol
may have been a necessary adjunct to their writing but ruined their
lives. Palmer's succinct biographies contain fine descriptions of
the writers, their work and the times they lived in; and there are
convincing insights into what led so many authors to take to
drink.' PIERS PAUL READ Why do some writers destroy themselves by
drinking alcohol? Before our health-conscious age it would be true
to say that many writers drank what we now regard as excessive
amounts. Graham Greene, for instance, drank on a daily basis
quantities of spirits and wine and beer most doctors would consider
as being dangerous to his health. But he was rarely out of control
and lived with his considerable wits intact to the age of
eighty-six. W. H. Auden drank the most of a bottle of spirits a
day, but also worked hard and steadily every day until his death.
Even T. S. Eliot, for all his pontifical demeanour, was extremely
fond of gin and was once observed completely drunk on a London Tube
station by a startled friend. These were not writers who are
generally regarded as alcoholics. 'Alcoholic' is, in any case, a
slippery word, as exemplified by Dylan Thomas's definition of an
alcoholic as 'someone you dislike who drinks as much as you.' The
word is still controversial and often misunderstood and misapplied.
What acclaimed novelist and poet William Palmer's book is
interested in is the effect that heavy drinking had on writers, how
they lived with it and were sometimes destroyed by it, and how they
described the whole private and social world of the drinker in
their work. He looks at Patrick Hamilton ('the feverish magic that
alcohol can work'); Jean Rhys ('As soon as I sober up I start
again'); Charles Jackson ('Delirium is a disease of the night');
Malcolm Lowry ('I love hell. I can't wait to go back there'); Dylan
Thomas ('A womb with a view'); John Cheever ('The singing of the
bottles in the pantry'); Flann O'Brien ('A pint of plain is your
only man'); Anthony Burgess ('Writing is an agony mitigated by
drink'); Kingsley Amis ('Beer makes you drunk'); Richard Yates
('The road to Revolutionary Road'); and Elizabeth Bishop ('The
writer's writer's writer').
" Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., John Hope Franklin, Daniel
Boorstin, C. Vann Woodward, Edmund S. Morgan, Barbara Tuckman, Eric
Hobsbawn, Hugh Trevor Roper, Lawrence Stone -- aside from carrying
the distinction as some of the most successful and well-respected
historians of the twentieth century, these scholars found their
lives and careers evolving amid some of the world's pivotal
historical moments. Dubbed the World War II Generation, the
twenty-two English and American historians chronicled by William
Palmer grew up in the aftermath of World War I, went to college in
the 1930s as the threats of the Great Depression, Hitler, and
Communism loomed over them, saw their careers interrupted by World
War II, and faced the prospect of nuclear annihilation. They gained
from their experiences the perspective and insight necessary to
wrtie definitive histories on topics ranging from slavery to
revolution. Engagement with the Past offers biographies of these
individuals in the context of their generation's intellectual
achievement. Based upon extensive personal interviews and careful
reading of their work, Engagement with the Past is a fascinating
behind-the-scenes look at a generation of historians and how they
helped record and shape modern history.
Examination of the influence of Irish affairs on English foreign
policy under the Tudors. `His thesis is simple: English policy in
Ireland was shaped to a greater extent than has previously been
realized by foreign policy and the power politics of the Counter
Reformation... A brief but important book.'CHOICE DrPalmer explores
the role of sixteenth-century Ireland in considerable depth,
examining how it changed during times of crisis abroad, and how the
tensions provoked by the Reformation in England introduced an
ideological element into international politics. He shows how the
failure of Henry's invasions of Scotland and France in the 1540s
led to greater involvement in Ireland by these countries, which in
turn led to the entry of more and more English officials into
Ireland and the implementation of increasingly aggressive policies.
This study thus shows that Tudor rule in Ireland reflected wider
international politics, with significant implications. WILLIAM
PALMERis Professor of History at Marshall University in Huntington,
West Virginia.
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