The final CAMPUS Masterclass in the current series took place this week, and featured Alexandra Pringle, former ARU alumnus and Editor-in-Chief at Bloomsbury Publishing (home of Elizabeth Gilbert, Margaret Atwood, Colum McCann, and sometimes Will Self, amongst others). Alexandra spoke about a career that has taken her from being Editorial Director of the feminist Virago Press for 12 years, to moving to Hamish Hamilton in 1990, to becoming a literary agent in the mid-nineties, before joining Bloomsbury in 1999.
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I am currently reading Shalom Auslander's Hope: A Tragedy, which is turning out to be immensely readable and quite entertaining. It's premise is somewhat far-fetched (I don't want to give it away here, but it's pretty outrageous and I have to admire the author's ability to pull it off) and the novel has an almost bewildered air about it. The protagonist Kugel is a Woody Allen-esque antihero, riddled with neuroses and prone to extreme navel-gazing and bouts of gloomy despondency about the world we live in. He finds himself in a highly improbable situation which is presented very early on in the book, and we follow his attempts to remedy this situation. All the time his innermost thoughts and analysis are presented as a meandering stream of consciousness that is searingly honest and very funny. It is an odd book, and even though I'm over halfway through, I keep thinking that it's all going to turn out to be a big joke - I just can't see how it is going to resolve. However, it is highly enjoyable: it is intriguing and clever, while the characters are complex and endearing. In addition, although the prose style is sharp and cynical, the tone is softened by Kugel's anxieties and the darkly observant humour that is ever-present. Let's see where it ends up...
Quentin Blake is a British artist and illustrator, most famous for his collaborations with authors of children's books such as Roald Dahl and Michael Rosen. He studied English at Downing College in Cambridge, and his recent work, and the drawing techniques behind it, are currently being celebrated in an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Yesterday was such a sunny spring day (10 degrees! I nearly wore shorts) that I voluntarily ventured outside the house for the first time since October 2012 (it really does feel like this) and decided to visit the exhibition.
Well, hello there! It's the Bank Holiday Monday after the Easter weekend, and it also happens to be the 1st of April/April Fools' Day, which is as good a day as any to write a blog post, I feel.
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About my blog
Really, it contains a little bit of everything, from a celebration of science and the English language to the joys of travel and the Shipping Forecast. The title ('Meanderings') is a fairly accurate description of its content: I write about different things as the mood takes me, but hopefully there's something in here for everyone... Categories
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March 2021
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And on another note... |
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