New Statesman -- writer's bio winners
No 4247
Set by Leonora Casement
We asked for biographical notes about famous authors supplied by publishers keen to attract readers but not overly familiar with their writers.
This week’s winners
A difficult comp to judge this week, as there were so many excellent entries. Well done! Hon menshes to: Sid Field (“Dan Brown’s growing reputation as an innovative, original and challenging writer . . .” ); G M Davis (“Mr Wilde enjoys the atmosphere of comfortable domesticity”); and Bill Greenwell (“One might imagine Mr Hitler as a cricketing umpire in a philosophical match between rival teams”). Each of the four winners gets £25, with the Tesco vouchers winging their way in addition to Frank Osen.
Too far gonzo
Families planning a trip to the western United States will find their vacations immeasurably enriched if they have first read Hunter S Thompson’s whimsical travel memoir, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This light-hearted romp is filled with charming anecdotes and information for travellers of all ages. We were intrigued to learn, for example, that there are spots in the Nevada desert where one may observe flying lizards from one’s car.
Young people will be especially captivated by this book’s illustrations, which appear to have been drawn by the author’s children. Youngsters would also do well to emulate the tale’s protagonist, who entertains himself alone in his room for hours through inventive conversations with an array of imaginary friends. Indeed, Thompson often seems like an overgrown boy himself. His puckish sensibility transforms even such mundane events as checking into a hotel into fanciful episodes that evoke scenes from Alice in Wonderland.
Frank Osen
Grand allusion
Versatility and industry are but two of the qualities that have created a loyal, even obsessive readership for Evelyn Waugh. Ms Waugh’s works span such a range that she may be considered catholic in her virtuosity and scope. While many of her topics are classical in theme and allusion – The Temple at Thatch; Love Among the Ruins; Helena – bitingly modern themes emerge in the quasi-SM glimpse into the world of Vile Bodies, while a more tender side is seen in the romance of The Loved One. Ms Waugh has even aligned herself with the über-modern notion that “cuisine is all”, Scoop proudly taking its place among the ranks of the nation’s favourite cookbooks. Drawing deeply on a love of pedagogy and the mind-broadening powers of travel, Ms Waugh’s works offer the reader a rare acquaintance with an idyllic world that can never go stale.
Carolyn Thomas-Coxhead
Lion in the sand
Henry Miller came to public attention with his pair of geographical primers, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. A third, Black Spring, showed a prophetic interest in ecology. He produced these during some hectic years of social work in Paris, especially among that city’s disadvantaged women. There followed a memorable tour of Greece – his classical interests later manifest in such titles as Sexus. Returning to his native America, towards which he gradually mellowed, he was again ahead of his time in adopting a simple life in the challenging Big Sur area of California. During this period, he composed a number of sometimes controversial memoirs about his early life in Brooklyn. Much admired by men as disparate as George Orwell and Lawrence Durrell, Miller also became an iconic figure of the 1960s. Married five times, Miller now lives in Los Angeles as a literary lion.
Barry Baldwin
Glass ceiling
Virginia Woolf developed a keen, almost obsessive interest in lighthouses at an early age. A staunch feminist, her well-known saying that a “woman must have a room of her own” appears to refer to her early ambition to break the glass ceiling and become the first female lighthouse keeper.
Woolf also seems to have had a keen interest in Orlando. It is probable that this was due to the abundance of lighthouses around the Florida coast, built towards the end of the 19th century. Woolf’s trips to Orlando would almost certainly have taken in the east Florida lighthouse trail.
Towards the end of her life, however, Woolf suffered from bouts of depression and it seems she grew disillusioned with her lifelong interest. “One cannot think well, love well, and sleep well,” she said, “if one is in a blinking lighthouse.”
David Silverman
Frank Osen wins the Tesco vouchers this week.
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