Media Pricer - the next generation of price comparison

• Released: 30/1/1997
• RRP: £7.99
• Publisher: Vintage
• Type: Paperback

To believe that this is a collection of incipient novellas is to misunderstand the purport of the book. It is a searing examination of the Romantic Byronic spirit of a certain kind of Englishness - that of the outsider, well-educated and assured but also tenderly, tragically flawed. It has much more to do with the theme of Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom or the disclosures of Sassoon than some imagined cutesy nostalgic view.Each of the characters is examined as a contrasting icon within their zeitgeist. The prevailing mores and challenges of their respective times cumulatively constrict and ultimately kill them. They all share a putative rosy future but this is soured by their very own identities which do not allow them to thrive and prosper in their chosen activities of painting, aviation and espionage. The writing is nicely judged and if masculine is still open enough to lay bare much that remains unspoken...

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