tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6179467970019405983.post2837479619751985880..comments2023-12-29T23:29:09.750+00:00Comments on ecopunks: The Newton Letter by John BanvilleTony Bailiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747493009715601398noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6179467970019405983.post-26984839507974965542009-03-31T22:52:00.000+01:002009-03-31T22:52:00.000+01:00John I think compared to you I am still a Banville...John I think compared to you I am still a Banville virgin... I've read Eclipse and The Sea and felt that basically the same narrator, different name and background, seemed to skulk through them. It was interesting to see that this figure was already fairly well defined in The Newton Letter which first came out in 1982. I have a copy of The Book of Evidence which I want to read but I want to finish of the dozen or so other books which I'm half way through first.<BR/>Didn't know that about Reflections which I'll now have to try and get hold of.Tony Bailiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17747493009715601398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6179467970019405983.post-28251011517714606802009-03-31T22:29:00.000+01:002009-03-31T22:29:00.000+01:00Tony, not another author we both read! A couple of...Tony, not another author we both read! A couple of years back I decided to take him on, all I could find on the library shelf. I reviewed, predictably, on Amazon US most of his fiction except "Long Lankin" which does not appear to exist over here even in big libraries, and "Birchwood" that I gave up on, having little interest in Big House Gothic. Not sure about "Nightspawn"-- sounds similar. But, despite managing to muddle through both "Kepler" and "Dr. Copernicus," I haven't read "TNL." Thanks for the reminder. The film "Reflections" was based on this novel(la). <BR/><BR/>I realize now I have forgotten to read "Mefisto." "Eclipse" was ok, but like "The Sea," I feel by now (as with Pat McCabe) that the same tone and plot suffuses too many of his novels. Such gloomy elegance, such somber shades, do make you long for light(er) fare sometimes. Perhaps his busman's holiday as Benjamin Black was a necessary vacation for Banville? Not that those mysteries are light reading!<BR/><BR/>I did like "Book of Evidence" best, and next its sort of sequel "Athena" more than the other semi-sequel, the tableaux-like "Ghosts." "Shroud" & "The Untouchable" succeeded even if based on Paul de Man & Anthony Blunt respectively. Banville dislikes Graham Greene and so put him in as despised "Querrell"!John L. Murphy / "FionnchĂș"https://www.blogger.com/profile/16616876266772470719noreply@blogger.com