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

Thursday, 10 October 2019 10:33

We should all stop and smell the flowers: The Story of Ferdinand

Written by Chris Guiton

in Fiction

Chris Guiton discusses The Story of Ferdinand, an anti-war allegory and a classic of radical children's literature We were all children once. And we remember the stories we heard or read as we grew up. They helped shape how we view the world. They introduced us to different places, different…

Tuesday, 03 September 2019 11:04

Finnegans Wake, fascism, and the essential unity of the human race

Written by Sean Ledwith

in Fiction

Sean Ledwith shows how Finnegans Wake, far from being an incomprehensible waste of Joyce's genius, is an anti-fascist masterwork, uniting and celebrating the wholeness, richness and vibrancy of human culture 80 years ago, as the clouds of war darkened over Europe, one of the most notoriously baffling books of all…

James Joyce Ulysses

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 26 August 2019 13:35

The Cave of Gold

in Fiction

Written by David Betteridge

David Betteridge re-tells an old tale, inspired by John Berger, Timothy Neat, and Margaret Bennett, with drawings by Bob Starrett The Cave of Gold by David Betteridge On 23rd February, 2017, in Edinburgh, an event was held by the Royal Scottish Academy, in commemoration of an honorary member who had…

John Berger

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 05 August 2019 15:40

Gone Underground: imagining revolution in Britain

in Fiction

Written by Phil Brett

Phil Brett has just published Gone Underground, the second of his Pete Kalder novels. It’s a crime novel, set in a future revolutionary Britain, and here he explains how he got the idea. It was reading a number of the Lew Archer novels by Ross Macdonald which inspired me to…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 23 July 2019 16:25

The Pay-Off

in Fiction

Written by Craig Campbell

The Pay-Off by Craig Campbell In the weeks before he'd lost his job as a steelworker at Corus Redcar, Francis Bell had suffered a series of strange dreams. In them he was always invisible – a man staring out at the world without a shadow for company. The dreams had…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 09 July 2019 17:05

Poetic Justice

in Fiction

Written by Moya Roddy

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…

Friday, 31 May 2019 15:40

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

Written by Nicholas Tucker

in Fiction

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

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

Written by Kim Reynolds

in Fiction

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

Saturday, 20 April 2019 20:24

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

Written by Dennis Broe

in Fiction

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