Books: Literary Life

_________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Life
By Posy Simmonds
2003





Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

My first encounter with Posy Simmonds was  back as a child - through her marvellous little children's book "Fred" (some kids have a cat, cat dies, a bunch of other cats show up, talk about how cool dead cat was and throw a massive rambunctious wake and kids join in - pretty good fun and a welcomely healthy attitude towards death (someone's died? let's throw a party!) Dang. Writing that has made me want to read it again...). Since then I've been predisposed to like her: her drawings summon up that warm, nice childhood feeling somewhere inside me that's a cross between a favourite blanket and a nice soothing cup of tea. Although that's not completely just me projecting on to her - it's the sort of feeling she does very well to help conjure up with fuzzy pencils and ever so slightly caricatured characters walking through a sharply defined realistic world (think Hergé but with a more Englishly grown-up bite).

Since Fred she's moved on and upwards into the hearts of the chattering classes ("chattering classes" is such a great phrase) with her books Gemma Bovery, Tamara Drewe and - this one - Literary Life. Unlike the other two (which are full stories) Literary Life is a collection of single page strips originally published in the Guardian's Review Section between 2002 and 2004 (for those that don't know - that's it's Saturday literary supplement) Literary Life is a tasty, ever so slightly devilish and most probably brought from Marks and Spencer's chocolate cake of a comic book. A wry take on the ins and outs of the publishing world - spanning all the way from independent book shops to agents to writers to reviewers - it isn't so much a satire (that's much too strong of a word) but is rather an affectionate poke in the ribs or - even better - a gentle joshing between friends - most probably at the tail end of a dinner party when everyone's had just a bit too much red wine. The way that the book works - with every page a different window into a different set of characters - reminded me of the League of Gentlemen (TV show - not the extraordinary Alan Moore comic) - snippets of comical exaggerations that slow combine to create a little mischievous universe. Yes - like her other works - it's pretty impossible to imagine a comic that could be more middle-class - but it's very good fun.

....................................................................................................................................................
Links: Paul Gravett Article, Telegraph Review.

Further reading: Tamara Drewe, Gemma Bovery, Wilson, Couch Fiction, Are You My Mother?, xkcd.

All comments welcome.