Fiction

Don Quixote is the best book out there on political theory, followed by Hamlet and Macbeth. There is no better way to understand the tragedy and the comedy of the Mexican political system than Hamlet, Macbeth and Don Quixote. They're much better than any column of political analysis.

Subcomandante Marcos

Tuesday, 09 July 2019 17:05

Poetic Justice

Written by Moya Roddy

in Fiction

Poetic Justice by Moya Roddy Fuckin’ mad, Stacey thinks, eyeing the crowd milling outside the theatre. Imagine goin’ to hear poetry this hour of the morning. Across the entrance of the building a large banner blazes: Cuirt International Festival of Poetry and Literature. Stacy wonders what ‘Cuirt’ means? Something to…

Tuesday, 25 June 2019 14:49

Solidarity against everyday exploitation: Stephen King's IT

Written by Tony McKenna

in Fiction

Tony McKenna looks back at Stephen King's IT Some years ago, a study was carried out into the fears of young children in the night. Just before the lights were turned off and the children were ready for sleep they were each asked where they thought the monster was. The…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 31 May 2019 15:40

Secrets, crimes and the schooling of the ruling class: how British boarding school stories betrayed their audience

in Fiction

Written by Nicholas Tucker

Nicholas Tucker asks why authors of children's stories about boarding schools chose to concentrate on escapist fantasy, rather than telling the truth Asked by a magazine in 1956 what he considered the chief characteristics of children’s literature, the veteran French writer Marcel Aymé replied ‘La bêtise, le mensonge, l’hypocrisie.’ This…

Charles Dickens Rudyard Kipling Billy Bunter CSLewis

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 07 May 2019 09:28

'Heed the truth/Spoken by the youth!' Stories of political activism by young people at the Battle of Cable Street

in Fiction

Written by Kim Reynolds

As young people take to the streets to protest about climate change, Kim Reynolds discusses the way political activism by young people at the Battle of Cable Street has been portrayed in radical children's literature, and urges us to 'heed the truth/Spoken by the youth' What has come to be…

Radical children's literature Mosley Climate change gun control

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 20 April 2019 20:24

The noir novel: crime and corruption at the heart of the capitalist world

in Fiction

Written by Dennis Broe

Dennis Broe reports from the Quais du Polar conference in Lyon, and discusses some examples of noir novels which depict and criticise the environmental depredation and social inequalities which lie at the heart of the modern capitalist world Noir fiction is distinguished from simple crime fiction by adding a darker…

Stieg Larsson Saviano

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 08 April 2019 15:24

A vision of the world to come: Liam O'Flaherty's 'Hollywood Cemetery'

in Fiction

Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell reviews Liam O’Flaherty’s re-issued novel,“Hollywood Cemetery” Published in London in 1935, but never re-issued until now, “Hollywood Cemetery” is one of five novels by O’Flaherty banned by the Irish State under the Censorship Act. In the 1930s, O’Flaherty was one of Ireland’s most censored authors – in fact,…

Traven (alias Ret Marut, born Otto Feige), police photo, London 1923

Sunday, 31 March 2019 11:13

Exposing the exploitative nature of capitalism: the life and writings of B. Traven

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Fiction

Jenny Farrell introduces B. Traven, a writer who stood consistently and unreservedly on the side of the working class and the oppressed. Like Robert Tressell, his novels and writings relentlessly expose and protest the exploitative nature of the capitalist system. The writer Otto Feige, alias B. Traven, died fifty years…

the death ship treasure of the sierra madre workingclass writers

Friday, 08 February 2019 09:04

Milkman

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Fiction

Jenny Farrell reviews the novel Milkman, a peripheral view on a besieged working-class community during the North of Ireland Troubles, which has won the Man Booker Prize Belfast-born author Anna Burns has won the 2018 Man Booker Prize for her novel Milkman. The Booker’s chair of judges, philosopher Kwame Anthony…

Monday, 04 February 2019 18:32

The Interview

Written by Jim Aitken

in Fiction

The Interview by Jim Aitken He needed the job because he needed money to pay his bills. It was as simple as that. This interview, if he passed it, could do more. It could enable him to follow his dream of enabling youngsters to dream themselves. Right now people needed…

Saturday, 02 February 2019 16:22

Shrinking Brexit

Written by Jan Woolf

in Fiction

Shrinking Brexit by Jan Woolf CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services), Islington, July 2016 Marjorie glances in her consulting room mirror. A strong face looks back, handsome rather than pretty, a face ready for compassion: for active listening, eyes softening for the right kind of contact with her first…