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

Wednesday, 20 October 2021 08:35

Liam O’Flaherty and the Irish Free State

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Fiction

As Ireland observes the centenary of its incomplete independence – the setting up of the ‘Free State’ with dominion status and the partition of the country – care must be taken not to distort history. One of the authors who lived through the years of upheaval and the years of…

Tuesday, 05 October 2021 16:07

Fire in My Head

Written by Mike Quille

in Fiction

Moya Roddy’s new collection of stories catapult us into the minds and hearts of working-class people who, despite a class system that offers them very little, reveal their own strength and potential through friendship, community and solidarity. Whether it’s the young mother in Doctor’s Orders fighting to get the right…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 23 September 2021 20:54

Ghosts of the Early Morning Shift

in Fiction

Written by Jim Aitken

Scotland’s radical credentials, past and present, are evident throughout the pages of this new anthology, the companion volume to the anthology of radical poetry, A Kist of Thistles, published in 2020. The first part of the anthology contains Memoirs, and the second part contains Flash Fiction with Short Stories. In…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 07 September 2021 19:36

A Female Text in Flight: Review of A Ghost in the Throat

in Fiction

Written by Razia Parveen

‘A Ghost in the Throat’ is a beautiful and poetically penned love-letter from one writer to another. It is an intriguing concoction of history, romance, sorrow, skullduggery and the importance of language all wrapped up in lyrical prose and delivered, like a gift, to the reader. We are presented with…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 24 August 2021 09:44

Shuggie Bain and working-class writing

in Fiction

Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell review Douglas Stuart's new novel Douglas Stuart won the 2020 Booker prize for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, set in his home town of Glasgow in the 1980s. Like many working-class writers, Stuart found himself doubting the value of his story: I used to ask myself, ‘What right…

James Kelman

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 05 August 2021 07:30

Place, personality and politics: the life and loves of D. H. Lawrence

in Fiction

Written by Alan Dent

Alan Dent writes about D. H. Lawrence Stand at the front door of 8a Victoria St, Eastwood and turn to your left and you can see the enfolding countryside Arthur Lawrence must have looked towards many times. Bert was under two when the family moved to The Breach House. In…

Monday, 26 July 2021 12:45

Walter Scott and the historical novel

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Fiction

On his 250th anniversary, Jenny Farrell writes about Walter Scott and his historical novels, uncovering themes of class conflict, ethnic and nationalist struggles, and how the personal experiences of his characters link with broader historical upheavals History is vanishing from school curricula, and historical awareness is being deliberately erased. Novels…

Ivanhoe Heart of Midlothian Rob Roy

Friday, 09 July 2021 09:46

Violence from the police against the poor: The crime novel after Covid and after Black Lives Matter

Written by Dennis Broe

in Fiction

Dennis Broe reviews books from Quais de Polar, the recent French crime fiction festival As the world begins to wake up and we enter the period of post-confinement, in France the first major festival returns. Just before the opening of the Cannes Film Festival was the Quais du Polar, the…

Jar City Pike Whitmer Cantaloube Lucarelli Pavicic

Friday, 18 June 2021 10:11

Apeirogon

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Fiction

Jenny Farrell reviews Apeirogon by Colum McCann Unlike a pentagon, an apeirogon has an infinite number of sides, or aspects. The title of Colum McCann’s 2020 novel gives the reader an indication of the innumerable facets that form this novel. And yet at its core is the single, undisputed fact…

Thursday, 17 June 2021 09:29

Palestinian Tales

Written by Edward Mackinnon

in Fiction

Edward Mackinnon reviews Alan Dent's new book I started reading Alan Dent’s Palestinian Tales a short time before the recent protests against the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the displacement of Palestinians by Zionist “settlers”. Western news media…